THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

DAVIS 


RISE  AND  FALL 


OF  THE 


SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 


HISTORY 


OF  THE 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  SLAVE  POWER 
IN  AMERICA. 

BY  HENKY   WILSON. 
VOL.  I. 


NINTH  EDITION. 


BOSTON  AND   NEW  YORK: 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY. 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1872, 

BY   JAMES    R.    OSGOOD   &    CO., 
in  the  Office  of  the  Lbrariau  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


PREFACE. 


FROM  the  closing  months  of  1860  to  the  spring  of  1865,  the 
United  States  presented  to  the  gaze  of  mankind  a  saddening 
and  humiliating  spectacle.  Treasonable  menaces  had  ripened 
into  treasonable  deeds.  A  rebellion  of  gigantic  proportions 
burst  upon  the  nation  with  suddenness  and  fierceness.  Vio 
lence  held  its  carnival  and  reaped  its  bloody  harvest.  Millions 
of  treasure  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  lives  were  sacrificed 
on  the  wasting  shrine  of  civil  war. 

During  that  stern  conflict,  and  since  its  close,  thoughtful 
men  have  asked  why  this  Christian  nation,  with  so  many  ties 
to  bind  it  together,  and  with  such  momentous  interests  to  be 
imperilled,  was  rent  and  dissevered  by  fraternal  strife.  Why 
was  the  soil  of  republican  America  reddened  with  the  blood 
of  husbands  and  fathers,  sons  and  brothers,  and  bathed  with 
the  tears  of  wives  and  mothers,  daughters  and  sisters  ? 

In  the  lights  of  the  present,  it  is  now  more  clearly  seen  that 
the  dark  spirit  of  slavery  was  the  inspiration  of  these  crimes 
against  the  peace,  the  unity,  and  the  life  of  the  nation,  and 
that  these  sacrifices  of  property,  of  health,  and  of  life  were 
the  inflictions  of  the  Slave  Power  in  its  maddened  efforts  to 
make  perpetual  its  hateful  dominion.  These  bitter  fruits  of 
the  seeds  sown  in  colonial  times  afford  another  signal  illustra 
tion  of  the  truth  of  the  inspired  declaration  that  "  righteous 
ness  exalteth  a  nation,  and  sin  is  a  reproach  to  any  people." 


VI  PREFACE. 

I  propose  to  write  a  history  of  the  beginning  and  growth, 
the  expansion  and  extinction,  of  slavery ;  also  of  the  develop 
ment  and  extirpation  of  the  Slave  Power.  This  work  will  be 
comprised  in  three  volumes  of  some  one  hundred  and  thirty 
chapters,  and  about  two  thousand  pages.  The  first  and  sec 
ond  volumes  will  trace  slavery  and  portray  its  influences  from 
its  introduction  in  1619  to  the  opening  of  the  civil  war.  The 
third  volume  will  describe  that  series  of  measures  by  which 
slavery  was  extinguished  and  the  Slave  Power  broken,  the 
Union  reconstructed  on  the  basis  of  freedom,  and  citizenship, 
with  civil  and  political  rights,  assured  to  all.  The  second  vol 
ume  will  be  published  next  year,  and  the  third  in  the  year 
following. 

I  have  striven  with  scrupulous  fidelity  to  truth  and  justice 
to  narrate  the  facts,  develop  the  principles,  and  portray  the 
results  of  this  "irrepressible  conflict"  between  the  antago 
nistic  forces  of  freedom  and  slavery.  Although  I  have  borne, 
for  more  than  thirty  years,  an  humble  part  in  this  stern  strife, 
and  have  been  personally  acquainted  with  many  of  the  actors 
and  their  doings,  I  have  endeavored  to  be  as  impartial  as  the 
lot  of  humanity  will  permit.  Of  the  actors  in  the  great 
drama  I  have  not  set  down  aught  in  malice.  Of  the  living 
and  of  the  dead  I  have  written  as  though  I  were  to  meet  them 
in  the  presence  of  Him  whose  judgments  are  ever  sure. 

To  my  countrymen  I  commit  this  work,  on  which  I  have 
bestowed  years  of  unstinted  labor,  in  the  confident  hope  that 
it  will  contribute  something  to  a  clearer  comprehension  of 
the  career  of  that  Power,  which,  after  aggressive  warfare  of 
more  than  two  generations  upon  the  vital  and  animating  spirit 
of  republican  institutions,  upon  the  cherished  and  hallowed 
sentiments  of  a  Christian  people,  upon  the  enduring  interests 
and  lasting  renown  of  the  Republic,  organized  treasonable 
conspiracies,  raised  the  standard  of  revolution,  and  plunged 


PREFACE.  Vll 

the  nation  into  a  bloody  contest  for  the  preservation  of  its 
threatened  life.  I  trust  that  this  record  will  reveal  to  those 
who  raised  voice  and  hand  against  their  country  the  true 
nature  and  real  character  of  that  system  they  sought  to  per 
petuate  at  such  fearful  cost ;  and  to  those  who  were  loyal  to 
country  and  liberty,  the  magnitude  and  grandeur  of  the  cause 
in  which  they  exhibited  such  faith  and  devotion,  endurance 
and  heroism.  I  trust,  too,  that  the  young  men  who  remember 
the  days  of  their  boyhood,  when  homes  were  saddened  by  the 
absence  of  fathers,  brothers,  and  kindred,  summoned  to 
encounter  the  hazards  and  hardships  of  the  camp  and  field, 
will  gather  something  from  these  pages  which  will  enable  them 
to  realize  in  larger  measure  the  toils  and  sacrifices  offered  for 
the  redemption  of  their  country  and  its  free  institutions,  of 
which  they,  under  Providence,  are  so  soon  to  become  the 

guardians. 

HENRY  WILSON. 

February  16,  1872. 


CONTENTS   TO   VOL.  I. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE  BEGINNINGS  AND  GROWTH  OF  SLAVERY  AND  THE  EARLY  DEVELOPMENT  OP 

THE  SLAVE  POWER. 

PAGES 

Basis  of  Slavery.  —  American  Slavery.  —  Slave  Power.  —  Issues  of  the  Civil 
War.  —  African  Slave-trade.  —  Slaves  brought  into  Virginia.  —  Colonial 
and  Commercial  Policy  of  England.  —  Slave-trade  encouraged.  —  Colonial 
Statutes  annulled.  —  Spread  of  Slavery  and  Increase  of  Slave-trade.  — 
Slavery  in  New  England. — John  Eliot. — Samuel  Sewall. — Action  of 
the  Quakers.  —  Testimonies  against  Slavery  by  Burling,  Sandiford,  Lay, 
"Woolman,  Benezet,  "Wesley,  Whitefield.  —  Emancipation  advocated  by 
Dr.  Hopkins  and  Dr.  Eush.  —  Opinions  of  the  Kevolutionary  Leaders.  — 
Slave-trade  denounced  by  Congress.  —  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  for  the 
Slave-trade.  —  Articles  of  Confederation.  —  Development  of  the  Slave 
Power  .  .  .  .  .....  ;  .  .  .  .  .  1-17 

CHAPTER    II. 

ABOLITION. ABOLITION   SOCIETIES. 

Articles  of  Association  of  the  Colonies.  —  Colored  Soldiers.  —  Slavery  abol 
ished  in  Massachusetts  and  Pennsylvania.  —  The  Pennsylvania  Abolition 
Society.  —  New  York  Abolition  Society.  —  Rhode  Island  Abolition  So 
ciety.  —  The  Abolition  Societies  of  Connecticut,  New  Jersey,  Maryland, 
and  Virginia.  —  Character  of  the  Members  of  the  Abolition  Societies.  — 
National  Conventions  .  .  »  »  .  .  »  .  .  18-30 

CHAPTER    III. 

SLAVERY   IN   THE   TERRITORIES. ORDINANCE   OF   1787. 

Public  Domain.  —  Cessions  of  Territory  by  the  States.  —  Mr.  Jefferson's  pro 
posed  Inhibition  of  Slavery  in  the  Territories.  — Ordinance  of  1787,  re 
ported  by  Nathan  Dane.  —  Adopted  by  Congress.  —  Sanctioned  by  First 
Congress  under  the  Constitution.  —  Efforts  to  suspend  it  in  Indiana.  — 
Blessings  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787. — Cessions  of  North  Carolina  and 
Georgia,  with  Limitations  concerning  Slavery.  —  The  Mississippi  Terri 
tory. —  Debate  on  Mr.  Thatcher's  Antislavery  Amendment  .  .  31-38 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

COMPROMISES   OF   THE   CONSTITUTION. SLAVE  REPRESENTATION. BLAVE-TRADE. 

RENDITION   OF   FUGITIVE    SLAVES. 

The  Failure  of  the  Confederation.  —  Distress  and  Discontent  of  the  People. 
—  Assembling  of  the  Convention  to  frame  a  Constitution.  —  Difficulties 
and  Dangers.  —  Antagonism  between  Freedom  and  Slavery.  —  Basis  of 
Eepresentation.  — Debates  thereon.  — Northern  and  Southern  Parties  de 
veloped.  —  Slaveholding  Interest  successful.  —  Committee  of  Detail.  — 
Duties  on  Exports.  —  Regulation  of  Commerce.  —  Slave-trade.  —  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia  demand  its  Continuance.  —  The  Bargain.  —  Slave 
Representation.  — Slave-trade  to  be  continued  Twenty  Years.  —  Rendition 
of  fugitive  Slaves.  —  The  Compromise.  —  The  Slave  Power  developed  39-56 

CHAPTER    V. 

PROPOSED    TAX   ON  SLAVES. FIRST  SLAVERY  DEBATES  IN  CONGRESS.  —  PETITIONS 

FOR    EMANCIPATION. POWERS    OF    THE    GOVERNMENT    DEFINED. 

Meeting  of  Congress.  —  Proposition  to  tax  Slaves  imported.  —  Debate  on 
the  Amendment.  —  Defeat  of  the  Proposition.  —  Petitions  for  Emancipa 
tion.  —  Franklin's  Memorial.  —  Excited  Debate.  —  Special  Committee.  — 
Report  of  the  Committee.  —  Southern  Members  defend  Slavery  and  the 
Slave-trade.  —  Tone  of  the  Debate.  —  Powers  of  Congress  denned  and  de 
clared.  —  Mr.  Mifflin's  Petition.  —  Right  of  Petition  violated  .  .57-68 

CHAPTER    VI. 

THE   FUGITIVE   SLAVE    ACT    OF   1793.  —  PROPOSED   AMENDMENTS. 

Bill  for  the  Rendition  of  Fugitive  Slaves.  —  Bill  passed  the  Senate,  — 
passed  the  House.  —  Petition  of  Free  Colored  Men  to  be  protected  against 
it.  —  Exciting  Debate.  —  Memorial  of  Colored  Men  of  Philadelphia.  — 
Exciting  and  Violent  Debate.  —  Disunion  threatened  by  Mr.  Rutledge.  — 
Action  of  the  House.  —  Further  Legislation  demanded.  — Mr.  Pindall's 
Bill.  —  Amendment  by  Mr.  Rich.  —  Mr.  Storrs's  Amendment.  —  Debate 
on  the  Bill  and  Amendments.  —  Mr.  Fuller's  Amendments.  —  Bill  passed 
the  House,  —  passed  the  Senate,  with  Amendments.  —  House  refused  to 
take  it  up.  —  Mr.  "Wright's  Resolution.  —  Bill  reported  by  Judiciary  Com 
mittee.  —  Debated.  —  Recommitted  to  a  Select  Committee.  —  Reported, 
but  not  acted  on  .  -  ..  I II  £&  T  '.!  A  V  r?  .  .  .  .  69-78 

CHAPTER    VII. 

THE   SLAVE-TRADE.  —  ITS   PROHIBITION. 

Increase  of  the  Slave-trade.  —  Memorial  of  the  National  Convention  of  Aboli 
tion  Societies.  —  Bill  reported  by  Mr.  Trumbull,  and  passed.  —  Memorial 
of  Pennsylvania  Quakers  against  the  Re-enslavement  of  Emancipated  Ne 
groes  in  North  Carolina.  —  Exciting  Debate.  —  Mr.  Sitgreaves's  Report 
adopted.  —  Mr.  Hillhouse's  Bill  amendatory  of  the  Slave-trade  Act  of 


CONTENTS.  XI 

1794. Senate  Bill  referred  to  a  Select  Committee  in  the  House.  — Re 
ported  with  Amendments  and  passed.  —  President  Jefferson  recommends 
the  Prohibition  of  the  Slave-trade.  —  A  Bill  reported  and  passed  in  the 
Senate. —A  Bill  reported  in  the  House.  — A  Debate  thereon. —Mr. 
Sloan's  Amendment.  —  Mr.  Early's  Threat.  —  Mr.  Sloan's  Amendment 
defeated.—  Mr.  Bidwell's  Amendment.  — Death  Penalty  proposed  by  Mr. 
Smilie.  —  Death  Penalty  defeated.  —  Bill  recommitted.  —  Bill  reported. — 
Laid  on  the  Table.  —  Senate  Bill  taken  up,  amended,  and  passed.  —  Mr. 
Randolph's  Defiance.  —  Further  Legislation  demanded  .«,  .  .79-97 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

DOMESTIC   AND    FOREIGN   SLAVE-TRADE.  —  NEGOTIATIONS  WITH  FOREIGN   POWERS. 

Extent  of  Domestic  and  Foreign  Slave-trade.  —  Cruel  Character  of  the 
Traffic.  —  Slave-breeding.  —  Prosecution  of  the  Foreign  Trade.  —  Chris 
tian  Sentiment.  —  Action  of  the  Quakers.  —  Motion  of  Mr.  Burrell.  — 
Rufus  King.  —  Mr.  Morrill.  —  Mr.  Eaton's  Motion.  —  Mercer's  Resolu 
tion.  —  Passage  of  the  Bill.  —  Mr.  Gorham's  Report.  —  Co-operation  with 
Foreign  Powers  recommended.  —  Treaty  of  1815.  —  British  Proposition. — 
Mr.  Rush's  Treaty.  —  Action  of  England.  —  Dilatory  Action  of  the  Sen 
ate.  —  Treaty  amended.  —  Mr.  Clay's  Reply.  —  Insincerity  of  the  Ameri 
can  Government  .  ;  '.  r>.  .  .""  •  .  •  '  •  .  .  98-111 

CHAPTER    IX. 

FOREIGN   RELATIONS   OF   THE   GOVERNMENT   INFLUENCED   BY   SLAVERY. 

American  Government  humiliated  by  Slavery.  —  Treaty  of  1783.  —  Demands 
on  England.  —  Jay's  Treaty.  —  Free  Negroes  of  San  Domingo.  —  De 
mands  of  Napoleon.  —  Monroe  Doctrine.  —  Congress  at  Panama.  —  Report 
of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs.  —  Debate.  —  War  of  1812.  —  Ran 
dolph's  Speech.  —  Instruction  to  the  Peace  Commissioners.  —  Treaty  of 
Ghent.  —  Demands  on  the  Commander  of  the  British  Squadron.  —  Posi 
tion  of  the  British  Government.  —  Persistent  Demands  of  the  American 
Government  for  Payment  of  Slaves.  —  Decision  referred  to  Russia.  —  Pro 
posed  Invasion  of  Cuba  by  Mexico.  —  Intervention  of  the  Government  of 
the  United  States.  —  Debate  in  the  Senate.  —  Instructions  of  Mr.  Clay  to 
the  Panama  Commissioners  .  .  .  "•' '  "-v".  "'•'  *  •  H2-122 

CHAPTER    X. 

INDIAN   POLICY   AFFECTED   BY   SLAVERY. EXILES   OF   FLORIDA. 

Disgraceful  Attitude  of  the  Nation.  — •  Escape  of  Slaves  into  Florida.  — 
Return  of  Fugitives  refused.  —  Commissioners  to  negotiate  a  Treaty  with 
the  Creeks.  —  Action  of  Georgia.  —  Protection  demanded.  —  Failure  of 
Negotiations.  —  Treaty  negotiated  at  New  York.  —  Stipulation  for  the 
Return  of  Slaves.  —  Spanish  Authorities  refuse  to  surrender  Slaves.  — 
Misconduct  of  Georgia.  —  Claims  on  England  for  Fugitive  Slaves.  —  Com- 


Xli  CONTENTS. 

missioners  appointed  to  meet  the  Creeks  in  Washington.  —  Annexation 
of  Florida  pressed  by  the  Slave  Power.  —  Amelia  Island  seized  by  Geor 
gia.  —  Expedition  sent  by  Georgia  into  Florida  to  capture  Fugitives.  — 
Raid  into  Florida.  —  Negro  Fort.  —  Order  of  General  Jackson  to  invade 
Florida.  —  Negro  Fort  captured.  —  Exiles  killed,  captured,  and  reduced 
to  Slavery.  —  Disgrace  of  the  Nation.  —  General  Jackson  enters  Florida. 

—  Defeats  the   Indians.  —  Acquisition  of  Florida.  —  Treaty  of  Indian 
Spring.  —  Treaty  of  Camp  Moultrie.  —  Seizure  of  Slaves.  —  Fugitives 
captured  by  the  Army.  —  Slave-catchers  permitted  to  hunt  Slaves  .     123  - 134 

CHAPTER    XI. 

THE   MISSOURI   STRUGGLE. THE   COMPROMISES. 

The  Louisiana  Purchase.  —  Missouri  Territory.  —  Bill  authorizing  the  Ter 
ritory  to  form  a  Constitution.  —  Mr.  Tallmadge's  Amendment  prohibiting 
Slavery.  —  Exciting  Debate.  —  Amendment  agreed  to.  —  Inhibition  of 
Slavery  stricken  out  by  the  Senate.  —  Bill  lost.  —  Territory  of  Arkansas 
organized.  —  Mr.  Taylor's  Amendment.  —  Bill  introduced  by  Mr.  Scott 
to  authorize  Missouri  to  form  a  Constitution.  —  Maine  and  Missouri  united 
in  the  Senate.  —  Mr.  Roberts' s  Amendment  for  the  Inhibition  of  Slavery. 

—  Debate  in  the  Senate.  —  Mr.  Thomas's  Amendment.  —  Amendment 
agreed  to.  —  Bill  passed  the  Senate.  —  House  disagree  to  Senate's  Amend 
ment.  —  Mr.  Taylor's  Amendment.  —  Bill  passed.  —  Conference  Commit 
tee.  —  Prohibition  of  Slavery  defeated  in  the  House.  —  Prohibition  of 
Slavery  north  of  the  Parallel  of  36°  30'  agreed  to.  —  Triumph  of  the  Slave 
Power  complete      .        .        *    :•  ;  <»»,>*       >        .        .        .    135-152 

CHAPTER    XII. 

ADMISSION   OF   MISSOURI. ATTEMPT    TO   INTRODUCE   SLAVERY   INTO   ILLINOIS. 

Constitution  of  Missouri.  —  Resolution  of  Admission  in  the  Senate.  —  Mr. 
Eaton's  Proviso.  —  Mr.  "Wilson's  Proviso.  —  Debate.  —  Passage  of  the 
Resolution  of  Admission.  —  Report  by  Mr.  Lowndes  in  the  House.  — Re 
marks  by  Sergeant,  Storrs,  Lowndes,  Cook.  —  House  Resolution  rejected. 
Senate  Resolution  referred  to  a  Committee  of  Thirteen.  —  Report  of  Com 
mittee  rejected.  —  Speech  of  Mr.  Pinckney.  —  Mr.  Brown's  Proposition.  — 
Appointment  of  Joint  Special  Committee.  —  Mr.  Clay's  Compromise 
adopted.  —  Conditions  accepted  by  Missouri.  —  Slaves  in  Illinois.  —  Slave 
Codes.  —  Governor  Coles.  —  Defeat  of  the  Plot  to  make  Illinois  a  Slave 
State  ...  ....  ."/.  .  ....  153-164 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

EARLY   ANTISLAVERY   MOVEMENTS. BENJAMIN   LUNDY.  —  WILLIAM    LLOYD 

GARRISON. 

Aggressive  and  Dominating  Spirit  of  Slavery.  —  Elias  Hicks.  —  Antislavery 
in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  —  Benjamin  Lundy.  —  He  organizes  an  An 
tislavery  Society  in  Ohio.  —  "  Genius  of  Emancipation."  —  Removed  to 


CONTENTS.  XU1 

Tennessee.  —  Established  Abolition  Societies  in  North  Carolina.  —  Meet 
ing  of  the  American  Abolition  Convention.  —  Political  Action  recom 
mended.  —  Establishes  his  Paper  in  Baltimore.  —  Visits  the  Eastern 
States.  —  Joined  by  Mr.  Garrison.  —  Imprisonment  of  Mr.  Garrison.  — 
Paper  removed  to  Washington. — Establishes  the  "National  Inquirer." 

—  Removal  to  the  West.  —  Death.  —  Character.  —  Mr.  Garrison.  —  Joins 
Mr.  Lundy.  —  Adopts  the  Doctrine  of  Immediate  Emancipation.  —  De 
nunciation  of  the  Slave-trade.  —  Imprisoned  in   Baltimore.  —  Release 
through  Intervention  of  Arthur  Tappan.  —  Denounces  the  Colonization 
Society.  — Establishes  "  The  Liberator."  —  Public  Sentiment.  —  Rewards 
offered  for  his  Arrest.  —  His  Fearlessness,  Inflexibility,  and  Persistency  165-188 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

THE  VIRGINIA    CONSTITUTIONAL    CONVENTION.  —  SOUTHAMPTON   INSURRECTION. 
SLAVERY   DEBATE   IN   THE   LEGISLATURE. 

Constitutional  Convention.  —  Struggle  between  Eastern  and  Western  Vir 
ginia.  —  Slaveholding  Interest  Successful.  —  Southampton  Insurrection. 

—  Nat  Turner.  —  Message  of  Governor  Floyd.  —  Resolution  of  Mr.  Sum 
mers.  —  Debate  on  Slavery.  —  Proposition  of  Thomas  Jefferson  Randolph. 

—  Mr.   Goode's  Motion  to  discharge  the  Committee.  —  Report  of  the 
Committee.  —  Mr.  Preston's  Amendment.  —  Speeches  of  Mr.  Moore,  Mr. 
Boiling,  Mr.  Randolph,  Mr.  Rives,  Mr.  Brodnax,  Mr.  Daniel,  Mr.  Faulk 
ner,  Mr.  Knox,  Mr.  Summers,  Mr.  McDowell. — The  "Richmond  In 
quirer." —  Reaction  in  the  State    .        .        .        '.        .        .        .     189-207 

CHAPTER    XV. 

THE   FORMATION   AND   PURPOSES   OF   THE   AMERICAN   COLONIZATION   SOCIETY. 

Its  Inconsistencies.  —  Views  of  Dr.  Hopkins.  —  Mr.  Jefferson's  Proposi 
tion.  —  Resolutions  of  the  Virginia  Legislature.  —  Judge  Tucker's  Plans 
of  Emancipation.  —  Mercer's  Resolutions.  —  Meetings  of  the  Society.  — 
Its  Constitution  and  Officers.  —  Its  Purpose.  —  Equivocal  Position.  — 
Declarations  of  Mr.  Clay.  —  Avowals  of  its  Advocates.  —  Views  of  the 
"African  Repository."  —  Black  Laws.  —  Compulsory  Colonization. — 
Action  of  Maryland  Legislature.  —  Action  of  the  Free  People  of  Color.  — 
Views  of  the  National  Conventions  of  Free  Colored  Men.  —  Declaration 
of  Mr.  Webster.  —  Mr.  Garrison's  Mission  to  England.  —  Eliot  Cresson. 

—  Protest  of  the  British  Abolitionists.  —  Address  of  Mr.   Garrison.  — 
Hold  of  the  Colonizationists  upon  the  Country.  —  Their  Prescriptive 
Course.  —  Encouragement  to  Mobs        .        .        ...        .     208  -  222 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

NEW   ENGLAND   AND   NEW   YORK   CITY  ANTISLAVERY   SOCIETIES. 

Conference  at  the  Office  of  Samuel  E.  Sewall.  —  Adjourned  Meeting.  — 
Adoption  of  the  Preamble  and  Constitution  of  the  New  England  Anti- 


Xiv  CONTENTS. 

slavery  Society.  —  Officers  of  the  Society.  —  Principles  enumerated.  — 
Address  to  the  People.  —  First  Annual  Meeting.  —  Resolutions.  —  First 
Annual  Report.  —  Mr.  Garrison's  Resolution  in  Favor  of  a  National  Con 
vention.  —  "Emancipator."  —  Great  Excitement  —  Public  Meeting.  — 
Organization  of  the  New  York  City  Antislavery  Society.  —  Arthur  Tap- 
pan.  —  Lewis  Tappan.  — William  Goodell.  — Joshua  Leavitt.  — Coloniza- 
tionists.  —  Denunciation  of  the  Abolitionists.  —  Rapid  Increase  of  the 
Abolitionists.  —  Publications  of  John  G.  Whittier,  Lydia  Maria  Child, 
Amos  A.  Phelps 223  -  230 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

HOSTILITY   TO   COLORED   SCHOOLS.  —  MISS   CRANDALL'S  SCHOOL   SUPPRESSED. 

Slavery  Hostile  to  Education.  —  Proposed  Collegiate  School  at  New  Haven. 

—  Hostile  Action  of  the  Citizens  of  New  Haven.  —  Noyes  Academy  in 
New  Hampshire.  —  Colored  Students  admitted.  —  Institution  broken  up. 

—  Miss  Crandall's  School  in  Connecticut.  —  Admission  of  Colored  Pupils. 

—  Hostility  of  the  People.  —  Arbitrary  Legislation.  —  Imprisonment  of 
Miss  Crandall.  —  Samuel  J.  May.  —  Arthur  Tappan.  —  Trial.  —  Failure 
of  the  Prosecution.  —  Persecution  of  Miss  Crandall.  —  Incendiary  At 
tempts.  —  Abandonment  of  her  School.  —  Her  Opposers  Triumphant  237  -  247 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 

NATIONAL    ANTISLAVERY    CONVENTION    AT    PHILADELPHIA. ORGANIZATION    OP 

THE   AMERICAN   ANTISLAVERY    SOCIETY. 

National  Antislavery  Convention  called.  —  Excited  Condition  of  the  Pub 
lic  Mind.  —  Conference  held  at  the  House  of  Evan  Lewis.  —  Assembling 
of  the  Convention.  —  Its  Officers.  —  Committee  on  the  Declaration  of 
Sentiments.  —  Resolutions.  —  Speeches  of  Lewis  Tappan,  Amos  A.  Phelps. 

—  Female  Antislavery  Societies  recommended.  —  The   Constitution.  — 
The  Object  of  the  Society  the  entire  Abolition  of  Slavery.  —  Conference 
on  the  Declaration  of  Sentiments.  —  "Words  of  Elizur  Wright,  Jr.  —  Decla 
ration  of  Sentiments  prepared  by  Mr.  Garrison.  — Reported  by  Mr.  Atlee. 

—  The  Declaration  adopted.  —  Signatures  to  the  Declaration.  —  Its  Doc 
trines. —  Officers  of  the  Society,  Elizur  Wright,  Jr.,  John  G.  Whittier, 
Amos  A.  Phelps,  Theodore  D.  Weld,  Ellis  Gray  Loring,  Robert  Purvis.  — 
Increase  of  Auxiliary  Societies    '    .        .        ,        •        •        •        .     248  -  263 

CHAPTER    XIX. 

LANE   SEMINARY. ANTISLAVERY  ACTION. 

Antislavery  Debate  at  Lane  Seminary.  —  Action  of  the  Trustees. — Anti- 
slavery  Students  dissolve  their  Connection  with  the  Institution.  —  Offer 
of  the  American  Antislavery  Society  to  give  the  Bible  to  Slaves.  —  Con 
duct  of  Managers  of  the  Bible  Society.  —  Abolitionists  mobbed  in  New 
York.  — Address  issued  by  the  Abolitionists.  — Address  of  Massachusetts 


CONTENTS.  XV 

Antislavery  Society.  —  Doctrines  of  the  Abolitionists.  —  Abolitionists  ar 
raigned  in  the  Annual  Message  of  President  Jackson.  —  Reply  of  the 
American  Antislavery  Society.  —  Activity  of  the  Abolitionists.  —  Rapid 
Increase  in  Numbers  .  .  '.  "".  '  .  '  f"  V  — .  .  264-273 

CHAPTER    XX. 

MOBS.  —  OUTRAGES   IN   CINCINNATI. WOMEN   MOBBED   IN   BOSTON. 

Proscription.  — Theodore  D.  Weld.  — James  G.  Birney.  — Establishment  of 
the  "Philanthropist."  —  Mobs.  — Meeting  of  the  Citizens  of  Cincinnati. 

—  Resolution  to  suppress  the  "Philanthropist."  —  Firmness  of  the  Anti- 
slavery  Committee.  —  Riotous  Mob.  —  Destruction  of  the  Press.  —  The 
"Philanthropist"  continued.  —  Dr.  Bailey. — Mobs  in  Philadelphia. — 
Continued  Violence  against  the  Abolitionists.  —  Orange  Scott.  —  George 
Storrs.  —  Meeting  of  Citizens  of  Boston  in  Faneuil  Hall.  —  Boston  Female 
Antislavery  Society.  —  Public  Meeting  of  the  Society.  —  George  Thomp 
son.  —  Mob  Violence.  —  Mayor  Lyman.  —  Seizure   of  Mr.  Garrison.  — 
Imprisoned.  —  Francis  Jackson.  —  Meeting  at  his  House.  —  Remarks  of 
Miss  Martineau      .        .<>,,-.        •        •     ;•>'«  *>* •" - '> "':s  -     274-286 

CHAPTER    XXI. 

RIOTOUS    DEMONSTRATIONS   IN   NEW   YORK   AND   VERMONT. 

Convention  at  Utica. — Mr.  Beardsley.— Joshua  A.  Spencer. — Hall  occupied 
by  Citizens.  —  Meeting  in  the  Church.  —  Society  formed.  —  Mob.  —  Con 
vention  broken  up.  —  Members  insulted.  —  Gerrit  Smith.  —  Members  in 
vited  to  meet  at  Peterboro'.  —  Officers  of  the  Society  chosen. — Resolution 
and  Speech  by  Mr.  Smith. — Antislavery  Cause  placed  on  High  Principle. 

—  Samuel  J.  May.  — Mob  in  Vermont.  — Mr.  Knapp.  — Colonel  Miller. 

—  Years  of  Mobs.  —  Dedication  of  Pennsylvania  Hall.  —  Speeches  by 
Alvan  Stewart.  —  Mr.  Garrison.  —  Miss  Angelina  Grimke.  —  Miss  Abby 
Kelley.  —  Mob.  —  Burning  of  Pennsylvania  Hall.  —  Impotence  of  City 
Authorities V'V*        •,       •  '      •       287-298 

CHAPTER    XXII. 

SLAVERY   AND   THE    SLAVE-TRADE   IN   THE   DISTRICT   OF   COLUMBIA. 

The  Seat  of  Government.  —  Sectional  Claims.  —  Capital  fixed  on  Slave  Soil. 

—  Slave  Codes  of  Virginia  and  Maryland  indorsed.  —  Inhumanity  of  the 
Slave  Laws.  —  Jails  used  by  Slave-traders.  —  Randolph's  Resolution.  — 
Speech.  —  Judge  Morrell.—  Petition  of  the  Citizens  against  the  Traffic. — 
Mr.  Miner's  Resolutions  and  Speech. — Resolutions  adopted. — Committee. 

—  Communication  of  the  Grand  Jury  against  the  Slave-trade.  —  Slave- 
traders  licensed  by  the  City  of  Washington.  —  Men  and  Women  whipped 
on  their  bare  backs.  —  Laws  against  Free  Negroes.  —  Responsibility  of 
the  Northern  People.  —  Arrest,  Imprisonment,  and  Trial  of  Dr.  Reuben 
Crandall 299-306 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XXIII. 

PETITIONS    AGAINST    SLAVERY    AND    THE    SLAVE-TRADE    IN    THE    DISTRICT    OF 
COLUMBIA. DENIAL    OF    THE    RIGHT    OF    PETITION. 

Presentation  of  Antislavery  Petitions.  —  Debate  thereon.  —  Petitions  laid 
on  the  Table.— Meeting  of  the  XXIVth  Congress.— Presentation  of  Anti- 
slavery  Petitions.  —  Excited  Debate.  —  Mr.  Jarvis's  Resolution.  —  Mr. 
Pinckney's  Resolution.  —  Report  of  the  Committee.  —  Petitions  ordered 
to  be  laid  on  the  Table.  —  Presentation  of  Antislavery  Petitions  in  the 
Senate.  —  Mr.  Calhoun's  Motion.  —  Debate  thereon.  —  Mr.  Calhoun's 
Motion  to  reject  Petitions  defeated.  —  Mr.  Buchanan's  Motion  to  reject 
the  Prayer  of  Petitioners  adopted.  —  Long  Debate.  —Servility  of  North 
ern  Members.  —  The  South  victorious  307-320 

CHAPTER    XXIV. 

NORTHERN   LEGISLATION   DEMANDED. 

Spirit  of  the  Abolitionists. — Mr.  Sullivan's  Pamphlet.  —  Dr.  Leonard 
"Woods.  —  Mr.  Hazard's  Report.  —  Charleston  Post-office  rifled.  —  Public 
Meeting.  —  Conduct  of  the  New  York  Postmaster.  —  Amos  Kendall's 
Letter.  —  His  Course.  —  Report  of  Mr.  Calhoun.  —  Governor  McDuffie's 
Message.  —  Resolutions  of  South  Carolina  Legislature.  —  Resolutions 
of  Southern  States:  —  Governor  Ritner's  Message.  —  Governor  Gayle's 
Demand  for  Mr.  Williams.  —  Message  of  Governor  Marcy.  —  Governor 
Dorr.  —  Report  of  Mr.  Stevens.  —  Failure  to  legislate.  —  Edward  Everett. 
—  His  Readiness  to  shoulder  a  Musket  to  put  down  Insurrection.  —  Mr. 
Cambreleng  rebukes  him.  —  His  Response  to  Southern  Demands.  —  His 
Message.  —  Referred  to  a  Select  Committee.  —  Resolution  of  Southern 
States.  —  Action  of  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society.  —  Hearing  before 
the  Committee.  —  Speeches  of  Mr.  May,  Mr.  Loring,  Mr.  Garrison,  Mr. 
Goodell.  —  Mr.  Lunt  interrupts  Mr.  Goodell.  —  Dr.  Follen  insulted  by 
Mr.  Lunt.  —  Dr.  Follen  sustained  by  Mr.  May.  —  Memorial  to  the  Legis 
lature.  —  Another  Hearing.  —  Speakers  interrupted  by  Mr.  Lunt.  —  Ex 
citement  of  the  Audience.  —  Mr.  Lunt's  Report.  —  Resolutions  laid  on 
the  Table .  .  .  321-338 

CHAPTER    XXV. 

INCENDIARY    PUBLICATION    BILL. ADMISSION    OF    ARKANSAS.  —  CONVERSION    OF 

FREE    SOIL    INTO    SLAVE    SOIL. ATTEMPT    TO    CENSURE    MR.    ADAMS.  —  RIGHT 

OF   PETITION    DENIED. 

President  Jackson's  Message.  —  Referred  to  a  Special  Committee.  —  Mr. 
Calhoun's  Report.  —  Incendiary  Publication  Bill.  —  Debate  thereon.  — 
Mr.  Van  Buren's  casting  Vote.  —  Defeat  of  the  Bill.  —  Application  of 
Arkansas  for  Admission  into  the  Union.  —  Constitution  guarantees  Per 
petual  Slavery.  —  Debate  on  the  Admission.  —  Mr.  Adams's  Amendment 
rejected.  — Arkansas  admitted.  —  The  Boundaries  of  Missouri  extended. 


CONTENTS.  XV11 

—  Free  Soil  made  Slave  Soil.  —  Success  of  the  Slaveholders.  —  Second 
Session  of  the  XXIVth  Congress.  —  Presentation  of  Antislavery  Peti 
tions.  Presentation  of  a  Petition  by  Mr.  Adams  purporting  to  come 

from  Slaves.  —  Violent  Scene  in  the  House.  —  Mr.  Patton's  Motion  to 
return  the  Petition  to  Mr.  Adams.  —  Motion  of  Mr.  Thompson  to  censure 
Mr.  Adams.  —  Substitute  moved  by  Mr.  Lewis.  —Angry  Debate.  —  Mr. 
Adams's  Defence.  —  Triumph  of  Mr.  Adams.  —  Speech  of  Mr.  Slade.  — 
Violent  Scene.  —  Caucus  of  Southern  Members.  —  Adoption  of  Mr.  Pat- 
ton's  Eesolution.  —  Antislavery  Papers  not  to  be  debated,  printed,  or 
read. — Subserviency  of  Congress    .    '..'".'   "•>  V-      «         •        •    339-354 

CHAPTER    XXVI. 

ACTIVITY   OF   THE   ABOLITIONISTS.  —  ACTION    OF   NORTHERN   LEGISLATURES. 

The  Abolitionists  hopeful.  —  Meeting  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery  So 
ciety  in  the  Capitol.  —  Mr.  Stanton's  Eesolutions.  —  Public  Sentiment. 

.  —  Formation  of  the  Illinois  Antislavery  Society.  —  Black  Laws  of  Ohio. 
Condition  of  the  Colored  People  in  Ohio.  —  Hearing  before  a  Commit 
tee  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature.  —  Mr.  Stanton's  Speech.  —  Action 
of  the  Legislature.  —  Decision  of  Judge  Shaw.  —  James  C.  Alvord.  — 
Resolutions  against  Texas. — Legislatures  of  Connecticut  and  Vermont  355-373 

CHAPTER    XXVII. 

THE   ALTON   TRAGEDY. MURDER   OF   ELIJAH   P.    LOVEJOY. 

Mr.  Lovejoy  discusses  the  Slavery  Question.  —  Maintains  the  Right  of  the 
Press  and  Speech.  —  Murder  of  a  Negro.  —  Charge  of  Judge  Lawless.  — 
Destruction  of  the  Office  o£  the  "Observer."  —  The  Press  destroyed  at 
Alton.  —  The  Slaveholders  demand  its  Suppression.  —  It  is  destroyed.  — 
Mr.  Lovejoy  mobbed  in  Missouri.  —  Insulted  at  Home.  —  Speech  to  the 
Citizens.  —  Excitement  in  Alton.  —  Mr.  Linder  leads  a  Mob.  —  State 
Society  formed  at  Upper  Alton.  —  Speech  of  Edward  Beecher.  —  Meeting 
at  the  Store  to  protect  tlje  Press.  —  Assault  upon  the  "Warehouse.  —  The 
Fire  returned.  —  Mr.  Lovejoy  shot ;  died.  —  Press  thrown  into  the  River. 

—  The  Murder  applauded  or  excused  by  the  Supporters  of  Slavery.  — 
Resolutions  of  the  Boston  Abolitionists.  —  Faneuil  Hall  refused.  —  Dr. 
Channing's  Letter.  —  Mr.  Hallett's  Resolutions.  —  The  Hall  granted.  — 
Address  of  Dr.  Channing.  —  Resolutions  of  Mr.  Hallett.  —  Mr.  Austin's 
Speech.  —  Reply  of  Wendell  Phillips.  —  Excitement.  —  Action  of  the  Na 
tional  and  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Societies.  —  Edmund  Quincy.  — 
Non-Resistants .',.'.         .     374-389 

CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

CALHOUN'S  RESOLUTIONS. — ATHERTON'S  RESOLUTIONS.  —  ASHBURTON  TREATY. 

Calhoun's  Resolutions.  —  Smith's  Amendment.  —  Allen's  Motion.  —  Debate. 

—  Atherton's  Resolutions.  — Southern  Whigs.  — Mr.  Slade.  —  Speech  of 


XV111  CONTENTS. 

Mr.  Clay.  —  Speech  of  Mr.  Morris.  —  Resolutions  of  Vermont.  —  Meeting 
of  the  XXVIth  Congress. — Mr.  Wise's  Resolutions.  —  Mr.  Thompson's 
Resolutions.  — Menace  of  Cooper.  — Mr.  Botts.  —  Motion  of  Mr.  Adams. 
—  Amendment  of  William  Cost  Johnson.  — Feeling  of  the  South.  — Let 
ter  of  the  World's  Convention  to  Southern  Governors.  —  Quintuple 
Treaty.  —  Protest  of  General  Cass.  —  Ashburton  Treaty.  —  Debate  in  the 
Senate. — The  Treaty  sustained 390-403 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

DISSENSION   AMONG   THE   ABOLITIONISTS.  —  DISRUPTION    OF    THE    AMERICAN 
ANTISLAVERY   SOCIETY. 

Increase  of  the  Abolitionists.  —  Dissensions.  —  New  York  Abolitionists  vote 
for  Seward.  —  Opposition  of  Mr.  Goodell.  —  New  Party  proposed  by 
Mr.  Smith.  —  Action  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society.  —  Young 
Men's  Antislavery  State  Convention  at  Worcester.  —  Resolution.  —  Polit 
ical  Action.  —  The  Woman  Question.  —  Pastoral  Letter.  —  New  England 
Convention.  —  Protest  of  Mr.  Torrey.  —  Memorial  to  the  Churches.  — 
Action  of  the  Rhode  Island  Consociation.  —  Churches  and  Ministers.  — 
The  Abolitionists. — Controversy  between  the  Massachusetts  and  National 
Antislavery  Societies.  —  Opinion  of  Mr.  Birney.  —  Sixth  Anniversary.  — 
The  Woman  Question. — New  England  Antislavery  Convention. — Massa 
chusetts  Abolition  Society. — Address  of  the  Society. — Bitter  Controversy. 
—  Financial  Action.  —  Proposition  to  dissolve  the  American  Antislavery 
Society. — Sale  of  the  "Emancipator."  —  Seventh  Anniversary  of  the 
American  Antislavery  Society.  —  Rights  of  Woman  conceded.  —  Disrup 
tion.  —  American  and  Foreign  Antislavery  Society  organized.  —  Both 
Societies  appeal  to  the  Public 404-422 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

ABOLITION  PETITIONS.  —  ARRAIGNMENT  OF  MR.  ADAMS.  —  RIGHT  OF  PETITION 
WON.  —  MR.  ADAMS'S  POSITION. 

The  Election  of  1840.  —  Death  of  President  Harrison.  —  President  Tyler.  — 
Mr.  Adams's  Motion  to  repeal  the  21st  Rule  adopted. — The  South  warned 
against  the  Abolitionists.  —  President  Tyler's  Letter.  —  Thomas  F.  Mar 
shall,  Henry  A.  Wise,  and  Joshua  R.  Giddings. — Vote  on  21st  Rule 
reconsidered.  —  Discussion.  —  Petition  presented  by  Mr.  Adams.  —  Reso 
lution  of  Censure.  —  Caucus.  —  Mr.  Weld  and  Mr.  Leavitt.  —  Marshall's 
Resolutions.  —  Speech.  —  Mr.  Adams's  Defence.  —  Remarks  of  Wise.  — 
Adams's  Reply.  —  Liberal  Action  of  Underwood,  Arnold,  and  Botts.  — 
Resolution  laid  on  the  Table.  —Debate  in  XXVIIIth  Congress.  —  Re 
marks  of  Hale  and  Hamlin. — Rule  abrogated  and  Right  of  Petition 
secured.  —  Position  of  Mr.  Adams.  —  Criticisms  of  Garrison,  Birney,  and 
Goodell  423-438 


CONTENTS.  XIX 

CHAPTER    XXXI. 

COASTWISE    SLAVE-TRADE. DEMANDS    UPON    THE    BRITISH   GOVERNMENT.— 

CENSURE   OF   MR.    GIDDINGS. 

Coastwise  Slave-trade.  —  American  Vessels  wrecked.  —  Slaves  liberated  by 
British  Authorities.  —  Eepresentations  of  the  Case  by  the  American  Min 
ister  to  England.  —  The  Action  of  the  British  Government  denounced. 

Kesolutions  of  Mr.  Calhoun.  —  Debate  on  the  Kesolutions.  —  Remarks 

of  Mr.  Porter.  —  Passage  of  the  Resolutions.  —  Exasperation  of  the  Slave 
holders.  —  The  "Creole"  seized  by  the  Slaves  and  carried  into  Nassau. — 
Refusal  to  surrender  the  Slaves.  —  Excitement  in  the  South.  —  Excited 
Debate  in  the  Senate.  —  Mr.  Calhoun's  Resolutions  relating  to  the  "Cre 
ole."  —  Mr.  Webster's  Despatch  to  Mr.  Everett.  — Approved  by  Mr.  Cal 
houn.  —  Action  of  England.  —  Resolution  of  Mr.  Giddings.  —  Exciting 
Scene.  —  Resolution  of  Censure  by  Mr.  Botts.  —  Resolution  adopted  by 
Mr.  "Weller.  —  Resolution  of  Censure  passed.  —  Mr.  Giddings  sustained 
by  his  Constituents 439-455 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

THE  "AMISTAD"  CAPTIVES. 

Demands  of  Slavery.  — The  "Amistad"  captured  by  the  Africans.  —  Taken 
to  New  London.  —  Africans  claimed  as  Slaves.  —  Demands  of  the  Spanish 
Minister.  —  Africans  before  the  District  Court.  —  Conduct  of  District  At 
torney.—  Instructions  of  the  Secretary  of  State. — A  Committee  appointed 
to  aid  the  Africans. — The  Attorney- General  of  the  United  States. — 
Africans  held  for  Trial.  —  Decision  of  the  Circuit  Court.  —  President.  — 
Declaration  of  the  Secretary  of  State.  —  Appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court. 
— Efforts  of  the  Committee. — Mr.  Adams  employed. — His  Argument. — 
Arraignment  of  the  President  and  his  Cabinet.  —  Discharge  of  the  Pris 
oners. —  Labors  of  Lewis  Tappan \  456-469 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

THE   PRIGG   CASE.  —  THE    USE    OF   ITS    JAILS    FORBIDDEN   BY   MASSACHUSETTS. 
AN   AMENDMENT   OF    THE   CONSTITUTION   PROPOSED. 

Various  Interpretations  of  the  Constitution.  — Margarette  Morgan.  —  Prigg 
Case.  —  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania.  —  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States.  —  Decision.  —  State  Legislation  not  required.  —  Taney.  —  Daniel. 

—  Jurisdiction  of  the  Government.  —  Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts. 

—  State  Laws  repealed.  —  Laws  against  the  Use  of  Jails.  —  Latimer's 
Arrest.  —  Trial.  —  City   Officers.  —  Excitement.  —  Public  Meetings.  — 
Meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall. — Edmund  Quincy. — Joshua  Leavitt. — Dis 
turbance.  —  Speech  of  Phillips.  —  Remonstrances.  —  Latimer  Journal.  — 
Popular  Demonstrations.  —  Grey  paid  by  Mr.  Colver.  —  Convention.  — 
Petition  to  1he  Legislature.  —  Meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall.  —  Petition  pre- 


XX  CONTENTS. 

sented  to  Congress  by  John  Quincy  Adams.  —  Proposed  Amendment  of 
the  Constitution.  —  Petition.  —  Resolutions  of  Massachusetts.  —  Singular 
Avowal  of  Mr.  Wise.  —  Mr.  Holmes.  —  Speech  of  Mr.  Adams.  —  Report  of 
Committee.  —  Massachusetts  Senators.  —  Action  of  the  Legislature  470  -  487 

CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

INTERMARRIAGE   LAW   OF   MASSACHUSETTS. — CASTE. 

The  Law  of  Massachusetts.  —  Petitions.  —  Report  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  —  De 
bate. —  Mr.  Davis's  Report.  —  Mr.  Bradburn's  Bill. — General  Howe's 
Bill.  —  Sharp  Debate.  —  Repeal  of  the  Law.  —  Colored  Persons  excluded 
from  the  Cars.  —  Scene  on  the  Eastern  Railroad.  — Action  of  the  Legisla 
ture.  —  Colored  Schools.  —  Controversy  in  Nantucket.  —  Petitions  to  the 
Legislature.  —  Mr.  Barrett's  Bill.  —  Defeated.  —  Mr.  Wilson's  Motion  to 
reconsider.  —  Earnest  Debate.  —  Reconsidered.  —  Bill  passed.  —  Action 
of  Boston  School  Committee .488-498 

CHAPTER    XXXV. 

POSITION   OF   THE   COLORED   PEOPLE.  —  FREDERICK    DOUGLASS. 

Sentiments  of  the  Colored  People. — Diverse  Influences  of  Slavery  and 
Freedom.  —  Childhood  of  Frederick  Douglass.  —  Cruelties  of  Slavery  il 
lustrated.  —  Attempts  to  escape.  — Sent  to  Baltimore.  —  Became  a  Ship- 
caulker. — Escaped  to  New  York. — Introduced  to  Mr.  Ruggles. — Arrived 
at  New  Bedford.  —  Works  in  a  Ship-yard. — Addresses  an  Antislavery 
Convention  in  Nantucket. — Impressions  made  upon  Garrison  and  Rogers. 

—  Becomes  Agent  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society.  —  Wonder 
ful  Effects  of  his  Speeches.  —  His  Devotion  to  the  Cause  of  his  Race.  — 
Publishes  his  Autobiography.  —  Visits  England.  —  Reasons  for  going.  — 
Establishes  the  "  North  Star."  —  Immense  Labors  of  Twenty  Years    499  -  511 

CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

THE   FLORIDA   WAR,  —  SLAVERY   ITS   CAUSE. 

The  Surrender  of  Slaves  by  the  Seminoles  demanded.  —  The  Additional 
Treaty.  —  Agreement  to  remove  to  the  West.  —  Outrages  perpetrated  by 
Slave-traders.  —  Exasperation  of  the  Indians.  —  Stern  Policy  of  President 
Jackson.  — Seizure  of  Osceola's  Wife. — Death  of  the  Indian  Agent.— 
Destruction  of  Major  Dade's  Command.  —  Conduct  of  the  Citizens  of  Flor 
ida.  —  Recall  of  General  Scott.  —  Action  of  General  Jessup.  —  Treaty  of 
Peace  ;  rejected  by  the  Government.  —  The  Slave-hunters.  —  Admissions 
of  General  Jessup.  —  Bounty  offered  to  the  Creeks.  —  Dishonorable  Con 
duct  of  Army  Officers.  —  Honorable  Action  of  the  Cherokee  Delegation. 

—  Cruel  Action  of  the  War  Department.  —  Violation  of  Flags  of  Truce. 

—  Noble  Conduct  of  General  Taylor.  —  Treaty  with  the  Creeks  and  Semi 
noles.  —  Danger  of  the  Exiles.  —  Demands  of  the  Creeks.  —  The  Exiles 
emigrate  to  Mexico. — The  Faith  and  Honor  of  the  Nation  tarnished    512  -  527 


CONTENTS.  xxi 

CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

DEMAND    FOR   THE    RECOGNITION   OF   PROPERTY   IN   SLAVES. 

The  Greed  of  Gain  gratified  by  Slavery.  —  Mr.  Whittlesey's  Report.  —  De* 
bates  on  the  Question  of  Slave  Property.  —  Spanish  Treaty.  —  The  Flor 
ida  Claims.  —  Mr.  Cooper's  Report.  —  Mr.  Giddings's  and  Mr.  Adams's 
Speeches.  —  Payment  for  Slaves  by  the  British  Government.  —  Mr.  Fill- 
more's  Bill.  —  Speech  of  Mr.  Giddings.  —  Violent  Scenes  in  the  House. 
—  Degrading  Influences  of  Slavery.  —  General  Jessup's  Contract  with 
the  Indians.  — "Watson's  Claim.  —  General  Gaines's  Order.  — His  Honor 
able  Conduct.  —  The  Collins  Claim.  —  Action  of  General  Taylor.  —  Faith 
less  Action  of  the  Government.  —  Renewal  of  Watson's  Claim.  —  Reports 
on  the  Claim.  —  Watson's  Claim  allowed.  —  Claim  of  Pacheco.  —  Failure 
of  the  Bill  .  .  .  . •'/  .  .  528-544 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 

THE   LIBERTY   PARTY. 

Early  Abolitionists  pledged  to  Political  Action.  —  Questioning  Candidates. 
—  Seward,  Cushing,  Fillmore,  Brooks,  Parmenter.  —  A  Political  Party 
demanded.  —  Myron  Holley.  —  New  York  State  Society  calls  a  National 
Convention  at  Albany.  —  Opposed  by  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Mas 
sachusetts  Society.  —  Meeting  of  the  Convention.  —  Nomination  of  James 
G.  Birney  for  President  and  Thomas  Earle  for  Vice- President.  —  Small 
Vote.  —  Address  of  Committee.  —  Salmon  P.  Chase.  —  State  Convention 
in  Ohio. — Peterboro'  Convention. — Address  to  the  Slaves. — National 
Convention.  —  Resolutions.  —  Candidates.  —  Philadelphia  Convention. — 
Professor  Cleaveland's  Address.  —  Election.  —  Western  and  Southwestern 
Convention.  —  Mr  Chase's  Address.  —  Eastern  Convention.  —  Dissen 
sions.  —  Unconstitutionally  of  Slavery.  —  Divisions  .  .  .  545  -  555 


CHAPTER    XXXIX. 

MOBS. ANTISLAVERY   ACTIVITIES.  —  WOMEN'S   FAIRS. 

Riot  at  Cincinnati.  —  Cowardice  of  the  City  Government.  —  Manly  Stand 
of  Dr.  Bailey.  —  Riot  in  Philadelphia.  —  Riots  in  New  Bedford,  Nan- 
tucket,  and  Portland.  —  Riotous  Demonstrations  in  the  North.  —  The 
Tone  of  the  South.  —  Divisions  among  Abolitionists.  —  New  Organization. 
—  Old  Organization.  —  Antislavery  Fairs. —  "Liberty  Bell."  —  Address 
to  the  Slaves. — Address  to  President  Tyler.  — One  hundred  Conventions. 
'  —  Thomas  P.  Beach.  —  Visit  of  Abolitionists  to  England.  —  Henry  C. 
Wright. —  Case  of  John  L.  Brown. —  Decrease  of  Antislavery  Societies. — 
Spread  of  Antislavery  Sentiments.  —  The  Impending  Struggle  .  556  -  567 


XX11  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XL. 

NO   UNION   WITH  SLAVEHOLDERS. 

Meeting  of  the  American  Autislavery  Society  in  1842.  —  Debate  on  the 
Issue  of  No  Union  with  Slaveholders.  —  Meeting  of  the  Massachusetts 
Antislavery  Society.  —  Protest  against  the  Constitution  by  Mr.  Foster.  — 
Mr.  Garrison's  Proposition.  —  Meeting  of  the  American  Antislavery  So 
ciety  in  1844.  —  The  Doctrine  of  No  Union  with  Slaveholders  adopted. 

—  Protests.  —  Address  to  the  Abolitionists.  —  Letter  of  Francis  Jackson. 

—  Gerrit  Smith's  Letter  to  John  G.  Whittier.  —  Replies.  —  Disunion 
Policy  adopted         .        .        .        •.-    -.:    •    .'-...•        •'     •        .    568-575 

CHAPTER    XLI. 

IMPRISONMENT   OF   COLORED   SEAMEN. 

Imprisonment  in  South  Carolina.  —  Laws  of  Louisiana.  —  Resolutions  of 
Massachusetts.  —  The  Governor  authorized  to  appoint  Agents  to  defend 
Colored  Seamen. — Appointment  of  Mr.  Hoar. — Excitement  in  South 
Carolina.  —  Action  of  Governor  Hammond.  —  Resolutions  of  South  Caro 
lina  Legislature.  —  Fines  and  Imprisonments  imposed  upon  Persons  that 
defend  Negroes.  —  Indignation  at  Charleston.  —  Action  of  the  Authori 
ties. —  Mr.  Hoar  forced  to  leave  the  State. — Mr.  Hubbard's  Mission  to 
New  Orleans.  —  Compelled  to  leave.  —  Petitions  presented  to  Congress 
by  Mr.  Winthrop.  —  Reports  of  Hoar  and  Hubbard.  —  Message  of  the 
Governor.  —  Action  of  the  Legislature  .  *  .  .  .  576-586 

CHAPTER    XLII. 

PLOT  FOR  THE  ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS. 

Dominating  Influences  of  the  Slave  Power.  —  Texas.  —  Immigration  from 
the  South.  —  Texas  declared  Independent.  —  Annexation  to  the  United 
States  proposed.  —  Rejected  by  Mr.  Van  Buren.  —  Election  and  Death  of 
General  Harrison.  —  Mr.  Tyler.  —  Mr.  Gilmer's  Letter.  —  General  Jack 
son's  Letter.  —  Presidential  Intrigue.  —  Address  of  Members  of  Congresa 
against  the  Texas  Scheme.  —  Duff  Green's  Letter.  —  Visit  of  Mr.  An 
drews  and  Mr.  Tappan  to  England.  —  Motives  for  Annexation  distinctly 
avowed.  —  Accusations  against  England.  —  Position  of  the  British  Gov 
ernment.  —  Texas  or  Disunion.  —  Conditions  demanded  by  Texas.  — 
Death  of  Mr.  Upshur.  —  Mr.  Calhoun  made  Secretary  of  State.  — 
Treaty.  .  .  .  •'  ,;  .' ..  '.  ,  ;  *  ,W4 "  .  ''.  .  .  587-605 

CHAPTER    XLIII. 

TEXAS   PLOT   CONSUMMATED. 

Presidential  Election.  —  The  Issue  distinctly  presented.  —  Position  of  the 
Whig  and  Democratic  Parties.  —  Embarrassing  Position  of  Antislavery 
Men.  —  The  Alabama  Letter.  —  Secret  Circular.  —  Mr.  Walker's  Letter. 


CONTENTS.  XX111 

—  Election  of  Mr.  Polk.  —  Meeting  of  Congress.  —  Mr.  Benton's  Bill.  — 
Mr.  Bale's  Proposition.  —  Mr.  Ingersoll's  Resolution.  —  Mr.  Hamlin's 
Motion.  —  The  Debates.  —  Adoption  of  Mr.   Brown's  Amendment.  — 
Passage  of  the  Resolutions.  —  Reported  against  by  the  Senate  Committee 
on  Foreign  Affairs.  —  Debates  in  the  Senate.  —  Mr.  Walker's  Amend 
ment.  —  Mr.  Miller's  Amendment.  —  Passage  of  Joint  Resolutions.  — 
Position  of  Southern  Whigs. — Weakness  or  Treachery  of  Northern  Demo 
crats.— Action  of  Mr.  Tyler.— Rejoicing  of  the  Friends  of  Annexation  606-620 

CHAPTER    XLIV. 

VERMONT   AND   MASSACHUSETTS. JOHN   P.    HALE. CASSIUS   M.    CLAY. 

Action  of  Vermont  and  Massachusetts. —  Massachusetts  Anti-Texas  Conven 
tion.  —  Proscriptive  Policy  of  the  New  Administration.  —  John  P.  Hale. 

—  Address  to  his  Constituents.  —  Denounced  by  the  Democrats  of  New 
Hampshire.  —  His  Nomination  withdrawn. — Appeal  to  the  People. — 
"  Independent   Democrats."  —  The   State   canvassed   by  Mr.   Hale.  — 
Speeches  of  Hale  and  Pierce.  —  Coalition  between  the  Whigs  and  Inde 
pendent   Democrats.  —  The  Democracy  defeated.  —  Mr.   Hale   elected 
United  States  Senator.  —  Brave  Fight  in  the  Senate.  —  Cassius  M.  Clay. 

—  Opposes  the  Annexation  of  Texas.  —  Visits  the  Northern  States.  — 
Advocates  the  Election  of  Mr.  Clay.  —  Returns  to  Kentucky.  —  Issues  an 
Address  to  the  People. — Establishes  the  "True  American."  —  Boldly 
denounces  Slaveholding. — Exasperation  of  Slaveholders.  — They  demand 
the  Suppression  of  the  Paper.  —  Refusal  to  comply  with  the  Demand.  — 
The  Paper  forcibly  suppressed.  —  Mr.  Clay  appeals  to  the  People.  —  Re 
establishes  his  Paper      .        .        , 621  -  635 

CHAPTER    XLV. 

TEXAS  ADMITTED   AS   A   SLAVE   STATE. 

Resolve  of  Antislavery  Men  to  continue  the  Struggle. — Action  of  the  Massa 
chusetts  Legislature.  —  Differences  among  leading  Whigs.  —  Celebration 
of  the  1st  of  August  by  the  Abolj+ionists. —  Anti-Texas  Conventions  held 
in  Massachusetts.  —  Committee  appointed.  —  Petitions  against  the  Ad 
mission  of  Texas  as  a  Slave  State.  —  Meeting  of  Congress.  —  Presentation 
of  Petitions.  —  Resolutions  for  the  Admission  as  a  State.  —  Speech  of  Mr. 
Rockwell.  —  Resolutions  for  Admission.  —  Considered  in  the  Senate.  — 
Protest  of  Mr.  Webster.  —  Texas  admitted.  —  Address  of  the  Anti-Texas 
Committee.  —  Complete  Victory  of  the  Slave  Power  .  .  .  636  -  651 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  SLAVE  POWER 
IN  AMERICA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  BEGINNINGS  AND  GROWTH  OF  SLAVERY  AND  THE  EARLY 
DEVELOPMENT  OP  THE  SLAVE  POWER. 

Basis  of  Slavery.  —  American  Slavery.  —  Slave  Power.  —  Issues  of  the  Civil  War. 

—  African  Slave-trade.  —  Slaves  brought  into  Virginia.  —  Colonial  and  Com 
mercial  Policy  of  England.  —  Slave-trade  encouraged.  —  Colonial  Statutes 
annulled.  —  Spread  of  Slavery  and  Increase  of  Slave-trade.  —  Slavery  in  New 
England.  —  John  Eliot.  —  Samuel  Sewall.  —  Action  of  the  Quakers.  —  Testi 
monies  against  Slavery  by  Burling,  Sandiford,  Lay,  Woolman,  Benezet,  Wes 
ley,  Whitefield.  —  Emancipation  advocated  by  Dr.  Hopkins  and  Dr.  Rush.  — 
Opinions  of  the  Revolutionary  Leaders.  —  Slave-trade  denounced  by  Congress. 

—  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  for  the  Slave-trade.  —  Articles  of  Confederation. 

—  Development  of  the  Slave  Power. 

GOD'S  Holy  Word  declares  that  man  was  doomed  to  eat  his 
bread  in  the  sweat  of  his  face.  History  and  tradition  teach 
that  the  indolent,  the  crafty,  and  the  strong,  nninindful  of 
human  rights,  have  ever  sought  to  evade  this  Divine  decree 
by  filching  their  bread  from  the  constrained  and  unpaid  toil 
of  others.  From  inborn  indolence,  conjoined  with  avarice, 
pride,  and  lust  of  power,  has  sprung  slavery  in  all  its  Protean 
forms,  from  the  mildest  type  of  servitude  to  the  harsh  and 
hopeless  condition  of  absolute  and  hereditary  bondage.  Thus 
have  grown  and  flourished  caste  and  privilege,  those  deadly 
foes  of  the  rights  and  well-being  of  mankind,  which  can  exist 
only  by  despoiling  the  many  for  the  benefit  of  the  few. 

American  slavery  reduced  man,  created  in  the  Divine  image, 
to  property.  It  converted  a  being  endowed  with  conscience, 
reason,  affections,  sympathies,  and  hopes,  into  a  chattel.  It 
sunk  a  free  moral  agent,  with  rational  attributes  and  immortal 


2  RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

aspirations,  to  merchandise.  It  made  him  a  beast  of  burden 
in  the  field  of  toil,  an  outcast  in  social  life,  a  cipher  in  the 
courts  of  law,  and  a  pariah  in  the  house  of  God.  To  claim 
himself,  or  to  use  himself  for  his  own  benefit  or  the  benefit  of 
wife  or  child,  was  deemed  a  crime.  His  master  could  dispose, 
of  his  person  at  will,  and  of  everything  acquired  by  his  enforced 
and  unrequited  toil. 

This  complete  subversion  of  the  natural  rights  of  millions, 
by  which  they  were  "  deemed,  held,  taken,  reputed,  and  ad 
judged  in  law  to  be  chattels  personal  to  all  intents,  con 
structions,  and  purposes  whatsoever,"  constituted  a  system 
antagonistic  to  the  doctrines  of  reason  and  the  monitions  of 
conscience,  and  developed  and  gratified  the  most  intense  spirit 
of  personal  pride,  a  love  of  class  distinctions,  and  the  lust  of 
dominion.  Hence  arose  a  commanding  power,  ever  sensitive, 
jealous,  proscriptive,  dominating,  and  aggressive,  which  was 
recognized  and  fitly  characterized  as  the  Slave  Power. 

This  slavery  and  this  Slave  Power,  in  their  economical,  so 
cial,  moral,  ecclesiastical,  and  political  relations  to  the  people 
and  to  the  government,  demoralizing  the  one  and  distracting 
the  councils  of  the  other,  made  up  the  vital  issues  of  that "  irre 
pressible  conflict "  which  finally  culminated  in  a  civil  war  that 
startled  the  nations  by  its  suddenness,  fierceness,  and  gigantic 
proportions. 

Half  a  century  before  the  discovery  of  America,  Portuguese 
and  Spanish  navigators  had  introduced  African  slaves  into 
Europe.  The  English  and  other  commercial  nations  followed 
their  example.  When,  therefore,  the  Western  Continent  was 
opened  to  colonization  and  settlement,  these  nations  were  pre 
pared  to  introduce  slaves  and  to  prosecute  the  African  slave- 
traffic  with  vigor  and  on  a  large  scale. 

In  the  month  of  August,  1619,  a  Dutch  ship  entered  James 
River  with  twenty  African  slaves.  They  were  purchased  by 
the  colonists,  and  they  and  their  offspring  were  held  in  per 
petual  servitude.  Thus,  at  Jamestown,  twelve  years  from  the 
settlement  of  the  colony  of  Virginia,  and  one  year  before  the 
feet  of  the  Pilgrims  had  touched  the  New  World,  began  that 
system  in  the  British  continental  colonies  which,  under  the 


BEGINNINGS  AND   GROWTH   OF   SLAVERY.  3 

fostering  care  of  England,  overspread  the  land.  So  near  in 
time,  though  remote  in  points  of  destination,  came  those  two 
vessels  across  the  sea,  with  elements  at  once  so  potent  and  yet 
so  unlike, —  the  "Mayflower,''  with  its  freight  of  learning  and 
Christian  civilization  ;  the  other,  with  its  ill-starred  burden  of 
wretchedness  and  woe,  bearing  the  seeds  of  a  system  destined, 
after  a  struggle  of  two  hundred  and  forty  years  for  develop 
ment,  expansion,  and  dominion,  to  light  the  fires  of  civil  war, 
and  perish  in  the  flames  its  own  hand  had  kindled. 

During  the  years  from  1619  to  the  opening  of  the  American 
Revolution  the  friends  of  the  slave-trade  and  of  slavery  con 
trolled  the  government  and  dictated  the  policy  of  England. 
Her  kings  and  queens,  lords  and  commons,  judges  and  attor 
ney-generals,  gave  to  the  African  slave-traffic  their  undeviating 
support.  Her  merchants  and  manufacturers  clamored  for  its 
protection  and  extension.  Her  coffers  were  filled  with  gold 
bedewed  with  tears  and  stained  with  blood.  "  For  more  than 
a  century,"  in  the  words  of  Horace  Mann,  "  did  the  madness 
of  this  traffic  rage.  During  all  those  years  the  clock  of  eternity 
never  counted  out  a  minute  that  did  not  witness  the  cruel 
death,  by  treachery  or  violence,  of  some  father  or  mother  of 
Africa." 

Under  the  encouragement  of  British  legislation  and  the  fos 
tering  smile  of  royalty,  more  than  three  hundred  thousand 
African  bondmen  were  imported  into  the  thirteen  British  colo 
nies.  The  efforts  of  colonial  legislation  —  whether  dictated  by 
humanity,  interest,  or  fear  —  to  check  this  traffic  were  defeated 
by  the  persistent  policy  of  the  British  government.  "  Great 
Britain,"  in  the  words  of  Bancroft,  "  steadily  rejecting  every 
colonial  restriction  on  the  slave-trade,  instructed  the  governors, 
on  pain  of  removal,  not  to  give  even  a  temporary  assent  to  such 
laws."  The  planters  of  Virginia,  alarmed  at  the  rapid  increase 
of  slaves,  as  early  as  1726  imposed  a  tax  to  check  their  im 
portation,  but  "  the  interfering  interest  of  the  African  company 
obtained  the  repeal  of  that  law."  South  Carolina  attempted 
restrictions  upon  the  importation  of  slaves  as  late  as  1760, 
for  which  she  received  the  rebuke  of  the  British  authorities. 
The  legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  as  early  as  1712,  passed  an 


4  BISE  AND   FALL  OF  THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

act  to  prevent  the  increase  of  slaves ;  but  that  act  was  an 
nulled  by  the  Crown.  The  legislature  of  Massachusetts,  in 
1771,  and  again  in  1774,  adopted  measures  for  the  abolition 
of  the  slave-trade ;  but  they  failed  to  receive  the  approval  of 
the  colonial  governors.  Queen  Anne,  who  had  reserved  for  her 
self  one  quarter  of  the  stock  of  the  Royal  African  Company, 
that  gigantic  monopolist  of  the  slave-trade,  charged  it  to  fur 
nish  full  supplies  of  slaves  to  the  colonies  of  New  York  and 
New  Jersey,  and  instructed  the  governors  of  those  colonies  to 
give  due  encouragement  to  that  company ;  and  it  was  the  tes 
timony  of  Madison  that  the  British  government  constantly 
checked  the  attempts  of  his  native  State  "  to  put  a  stop  to  this 
infernal  traffic."  Up  to  the  hour  of  American  Independence, 
the  government  of  England  steadily  resisted  colonial  restric 
tions  on  the  slave-trade,  and  persisted  in  forcing  this  traffic, 
so  gainful  to  her  commercial  and  manufacturing  interests,  upon 
her  colonies,  "  which,"  in  the  words  of  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth, 
in  1775,  "  were  not  allowed  to  check  or  discourage  in  any 
degree  a  traffic  so  beneficial  to  the  nation."  British  avarice 
planted  slavery  in  America  ;  British  legislation  sanctioned  and 
maintained  it ;  British  statesmen  sustained  and  guarded  it. 

But  the  British  government  and  British  merchants  were  not 
alone  responsible  for  the  spread  of  slavery  in  the  colonies. 
The  inhabitants  themselves  were  generally  only  too  willing  to 
profit  by  such  enforced  and  unpaid  toil.  North  Carolina  was 
settled  by  colonies  from  Virginia,  who  carried  slaves  with 
them.  Governor  Sir  John  Yeamans  brought  slaves  with  him 
from  Barbadoes  into  South  Carolina,  and  planted  slavery  there. 
Georgia,  however,  was  settled  by  colonies  under  the  lead  of 
James  Oglethorpe,  who  held  slavery  to  be  a  horrid  crime 
against  the  gospel,  as  well  as  against  the  laws  of  England,  and 
slavery  was  there  forbidden.  Some  of  the  colonists,  however, 
soon  began  to  complain  that  they  were  prohibited  the  use  of 
slave-labor.  The  laws  were  evaded  ;  slaves  from  South  Caro 
lina  were  hired,  at  first  for  short  periods,  and  afterwards  for 
life.  Soon  slave-ships  sailed  from  Savannah  for  the  coast  of 
Africa,  and  slaves  were  introduced  with  the  connivance  of  the 
British  government,  and  Georgia  became  a  slave  State.  Slav- 


BEGINNINGS  AND   GROWTH  OF   SLAVERY.  5 

ery  also  readily  found  its  way  into  the  colonies  of  Maryland, 
Delaware,  and  Pennsylvania.  The  company  interested  in  the 
colonization  of  New  Jersey  offered  a  land  bounty  of  seventy-five 
acres  for  every  slave  introduced  there.  And  the  Royal  African 
Company  was  enjoined  by  Queen  Anne  "  to  have  a  constant 
and  sufficient  supply  of  merchantable  negroes"  for  this  colony. 
The  Dutch  West  India  Company  promised  to  supply  the  Dutch 
settlers  of  New  York  with  slaves,  —  a  promise  afterwards  re 
newed.  They  were  then  allowed  to  purchase  slaves  of  others, 
and  finally  to  engage  in  the  foreign  traffic  itself.  Nor  did  the 
rugged  soil,  or  the  still  more  rugged  clime,  of  New  England 
save  its  colonies  from  the  introduction  of  the  system  even 
there.  Slavery,  however,  grew  slowly.  In  1680  it  was  stated 
by  Governor  Bradstreet  that  there  were  only  about  one  hun 
dred  and  twenty  African  slaves  in  the  colony  of  Massachusetts. 
At  the  end  of  a  hundred  years  from  the  settlement  of  Plymouth 
there  were  estimated  to  be  only  about  two  thousand. 

During  the  half-century  preceding  the  Revolution  slavery 
increased  with  rapidity,  especially  in  the  Southern  colonies. 
There  the  production  of  tobacco,  indigo,  and  rice  became 
of  great  commercial  importance  to  the  mother  country,  and 
slavery  felt  its  stimulating  influence.  There  slaves  toiled 
generally  on  large  plantations,  often  under  merciless  over 
seers  and  the  menace  of  the  lash.  In  the  colonies  north 
of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  they  were  either  employed  in  the 
families  of  the  wealthy  or  belonged  to  small  farmers  who 
labored  with  their  own  servants  and  usually  received  them 
into  their  families.  From  this  circumstance,  and  from  the 
fact  that  they  were  accorded  privileges  under  the  laws  and  in 
the  usages  and  customs  of  society,  their  condition  was  rendered 
more  tolerable,  and  their  character  was  less  degraded  than 
were  the  character  and  condition  of  Southern  slaves. 

In  spite,  however,  of  the  avarice  which  guided  and  inspired 
the  commercial  and  colonial  policy  of  England,  in  spite  of  the 
corrupting  influence  of  the  slave-trade  and  of  slavery  itself, 
they  found  sturdy  opposers  in  both  England  and  America. 
The  colonial  legislature  of  Massachusetts  of  1641  enacted 
in  its  code,  styled  the  "  Body  of  Liberties,"  that  there  should 


* 
6  RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

never  be  any  bond-slavery,  unless  it  be  of  captives  taken 
in  "just  war,"  or  of  such  as  willingly  sold  themselves  or 
were  sold  to  them,  and  such  should  have  the  liberties  and 
Christian  usages  that  God  had  established  in  Israel.  Whether 
this  act  prohibited  the  slavery  of  Africans  or  not  has  been 
a  question  freely  discussed,  and  on  which  differences  of 
opinion  have  obtained.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  that 
the  colonists  of  that  day  made  a  distinction  between  slaves 
captured  in  "just  war  "  and  those  stolen  in  Africa,  and  that 
this  act  was  based  on  this  distinction.  At  any  rate,  it  is  safe 
to  say  that  the  servitude  it  authorized,  with  its  recognized 
limitations  of  the  Mosaic  code,  had  little  in  common  with 
the  American  slavery  which  afterwards  obtained  in  all  the 
colonies. 

In  1646  two  slaves  were  introduced  into  the  colony  by  a 
member  of  a  church,  who  had  procured  them  in  a  slave-hunt  in 
Africa.  A  memorial  immediately  presented  to  the  General 
Court,  setting  forth  the  threefold  outrage  of  "  murder,  man- 
stealing,  and  Sabbath-breaking,"  —  the  slave-hunt  having  taken 
place  on  the  Sabbath,  —  drew  forth  a  stringent  order.  "  Con 
ceiving  themselves,"  they  said,  "  bound  by  the  first  opportunity 
to  bear  witness  against  the  heinous  and  crying  sin  of  man- 
stealing,"  they  supplemented  their  testimony  with  the  require 
ment  that  the  victims  "  should  be  sent  to  their  native  country, 
Guinea,  and  a  letter,"  expressing  "  the  indignation  of  the  court 
thereabout."  In  November  of  that  year  it  was  enacted  that "  if 
any  man  stealeth  a  man,  or  mankind,  he  shall  surely  be  put  to 
death."  The  colony  of  Connecticut,  in  1650,  and  the  colony  of 
New  Haven,  soon  after,  passed  acts  making  man-stealing  a 
capital  offence. 

"W  hatever  differences  of  opinion  there  may  have  been  concern 
ing  the  full  import  and  effects  of  the  Massachusetts  act  of  1641, 
there  can  be  none  concerning  that  of  the  colony  of  Rhode  Island, 
adopted  in  1652.  By  this  act  it  was  prodded  that  no  "  black 
mankind  or  white,"  "  being  forced  by  covenant-bond  or  other 
wise,"  should  serve  more  than  ten  years,  or  after  the  age  of 
twenty-four  years,  but  should  be  set  free.  "  This  noble  act," 
says  Moore,  in  his  "  Notes  on  Slavery  in  Massachusetts," 


BEGINNINGS   AND   GROWTH   OF   SLAVERY.  7 

"  stands  out  in  solitary  grandeur  in  the  middle  of  the  seven 
teenth  century,  the  first  legislative  enactment  in  the  history 
of  this  continent,  if  not  of  the  world,  for  the  suppression  of 
involuntary  servitude."  It  was  in  view  of  this  early  legislation 
against  African  slavery  and  the  slave-trade,  and  of  the  small 
number  of  slaves  that  found  their  way  into  the  Massachusetts 
colonies  during  the  first  two  generations  of  their  history,  that 
Whittier  says :  "  It  was  not  the  rigor  of  her  northern  winter, 
nor  the  unfriendly  soil  of  Massachusetts,  which  discouraged  the 
introduction  of  slavery  during  the  first  half  of  the  century  of 
her  existence  as  a  colony.  It  was  the  recognition  of  the  brother 
hood  of  man  in  sin,  suffering,  and  redemption,  the  awful  respon 
sibilities  and  eternal  destinies  of  humanity,  her  hatred  of  wrong 
and  tyranny,  and  her  stern  sense  of  justice,  which  led  her  to 
impose  upon  the  African  slave-trade  the  terrible  penalty  of  the 
Mosaic  code." 

In  spite,  however,  of  this  early  legislation,  and  of  the  popular 
sentiment  which  prompted  it,  slavery  made  progress,  the  num 
ber  of  slaves  slowly  increased,  and  men  were  found  ready  to 
engage  in  the  infamous  traffic.  The  demoralizing  influence 
of  the  Indian  wars,  and  the  recognition  of  the  principle  that 
captives  taken  in  them  might  be  rightfully  held  in  bondage, 
contributed  largely  to  this  result.  There  were,  however,  ear 
nest  and  faithful  protestants  who  saw  and  deeply  deplored  the 
great  and  grievous  wrong  thus  inflicted  on  both  the  Indian  and 
the  African.  John  Eliot,  the  apostle  to  the  Indians,  presented, 
in  1675,  a  memorial  to  the  Governor  and  Council  against  sell 
ing  captured  Indians  into  slavery.  His  objections  were  that 
it  prolonged  the  war,  that  it  hindered  the  enlargement  of 
Christ's  kingdom,  and  that  "  the  selling  of  souls  is  a  danger 
ous  merchandise."  Though  the  mission  of  this  large-hearted 
man  was  mainly  with  the  Indians,  he  did  not  forget  the  Afri 
can,  but  lamented,  it  is  said  by  Cotton  Mather,  with  "  a  bleed 
ing  and  burning  passion,"  "  the  destroying  ignorance  "  in  which 
they  were  left,  by  men  bearing  the  name  of  Christian,  "  for 
fear  of  losing  the  benefit  of  their  vassalage." 

The  iniquity  of  slavery  and  of  the  slave-trade,  and  the 
wrongs  of  the  slave,  were  deeply  felt  by  Justice  Samuel  Sewall, 


8  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

afterwards  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massachu 
setts.  In  the  year  1700  he  wrote  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  The 
Selling  of  Joseph :  A  Memorial,"  in  which  slavery  was  char 
acterized,  and  the  primal  truths  of  human  equality  and  obliga 
tion  were  enunciated,  with  signal  boldness  and  force.  He 
maintained  that  "  originally  and  naturally  "  there  was  no  such 
thing  as  slavery ;  and  that  "  these  Ethiopians,  as  black  as  they 
are,  seeing  they  are  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  first  Adam, 
the  brethren  and  sisters  of  the  last  Adam,  and  the  offspring 
of  God,  they  ought  to  be  treated  with  respect  agreeable." 

Although  this  production  was  received,  its  faithful  and  fear 
less  author  says,  "  with  frowns  and  hard  words,"  there  was  a 
state  of  unrest  in  the  public  mind  which  revealed  itself  in  vari 
ous  ways.  The  slaves  themselves  were  uneasy  under  their  bond 
age,  and  made  no  secret  of  their  earnest  longings  for  liberty. 
Though  their  increase  was  small,  the  most  thoughtful  and 
conscientious  viewed  that  increase  with  apprehension,  and 
earnestly  desired  the  abolition  of  both  the  trade  and  the  sys 
tem.  During  the  ten  years  immediately  preceding  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independence,  in  which  the  rights  of  man  and  of  the 
colonies  were  under  sharp  discussion,  the  wrongfulness  and  in- 
consistency  of  slavery  became  more  and  more  apparent.  The 
desire  for  emancipation  and  the  extinction  of  the  slave-trade 
found  utterance  in  sermons  and  pamphlets,  some  thorough  and 
of  decided  merit,  and  in  the  resolutions  and  memorials  of 
towns  praying  -the  legislature  to  take  action  at  once  in  the 
interests  of  humanity  and  true  patriotism. 

But  members  of  the  society  of  Friends  took  the  lead  in  this 
opposition.  In  the  year  1688  a  small  body  of  German  Quak 
ers,  at  Germantown,  Pennsylvania,  presented  a  protest  to  the 
Yearly  Meeting  against  the  "buying,  selling,  and  holding 
men  in  slavery."  But  though  not  then  prepared  to  take  ac 
tion,  it  sent  forth  in  1696  the  advice  that  "the  members  should 
discourage  the  introduction  of  slavery,  and  be  careful  of  the 
moral  and  intellectual  training  of  such  as  they  held  in  servi 
tude."  Three  years  before  this  advice  was  given,  George 
Keith,  then  a  member  of  that  society,  had  denounced  slav 
ery  as  contrary  to  the  religion  of  Christ,  the  rights  of  man, 


BEGINNINGS   AND   GROWTH   OF   SLAVERY. 

and  sound  reason  and  policy,  and  charged  its  members  to 
"  set  their  negroes  at  liberty  after  some  reasonable  time  of 
service." 

In  New  England  the  Quakers,  at  the  Monthly  Meeting  at 
Dartmouth  in  1716,  sent  to  the  Rhode  Island  Quarterly  Meet 
ing  the  query,  "  whether  it  be  agreeable  to  truth  for  the 
Friends  to  purchase  slaves  and  keep  them  for  a  term  of  life." 
The  Quakers  of  Nantucket  in  the  same  year,  moved  by  the 
eloquence  of  the  wife  of  Nathaniel  Starbuck,  a  preacher  of 
their  denomination,  sent  forth  the  declaration  that  "  it  is  not 
agreeable  to  the  truth  for  Friends  to  purchase  slaves  and  hold 
them  for  the  term  of  life."  In  1729  they  made  an  earnest 
appeal  to  the  Philadelphia  Yearly  Meeting,  in  which  they  say : 
"  Inasmuch  as  we  are  restrained  by  the  rule  of  discipline  from 
being  concerned  in  fetching  or  importing  negro  slaves  from 
their  own  country,  whether  it  is  not  as  reasonable  that  we 
should  be  restricted  from  buying  them  when  imported."  At 
that  time  Elihu  Coleman  wrote  a  pamphlet  against  making  men 
slaves,  because  it  was  "  anti-christian "  and  "  very  opposite 
both  to  grace  and  nature." 

Most  faithful  testimony  against  slavery  was  borne  by  William 
Burling,  of  Long  Island,  in  the  Yearly  Meeting  of  the  Friends. 
In  1729  Ralph  Sandiford  published  "  The  Mystery  of  Iniquity," 
in  which  he  earnestly  condemned  the  sin  of  oppression.  The 
ardent  but  eccentric  Benjamin  Lay,  who  had  witnessed  in 
Barbadoes  scenes  of  cruelty  to  slaves  that  disturbed  and  dis 
tressed  his  sensitive  nature,  pleaded  the  cause  of  the  bondman 
in  a  volume,  published  in  1737  by  Benjamin  Franklin.  From 
1746  to  1767  John  Woolman,  of  New  Jersey,  travelled  much 
in  the  Middle  and  Southern  colonies,  proclaiming  to  Christians 
that  "  the  practice  of  continuing  slavery  is  not  right,"  and  that 
"  liberty  is  the  natural  right  of  all  men  equally."  This  humane, 
unselfish,  and  self-denying  man,  as  he  travelled  among  the 
people,  saw  "  a  dark  gloominess  overhanging  the  land,"  and 
"  a  spirit  of  fierceness  and  love  of  dominion."  But,  notwith 
standing  all  that  was  calculated  to  depress  and  sadden  his 
heart,  he  labored  on  with  earnest  and  unconquerable  zeal,  and 
largely  contributed  to  the  work  of  preparing  his  denomination 
2 


10          RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

to  bear  their  early  testimony  against  the  sin  and  practice  of 
slavery. 

But  the  most  active  antislavery  worker  of  that  age  was 
Anthony  Benezet,  the  son  of  Huguenot  parents,  who  escaped 
from  France  on  account  of  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes.  Having  inherited  an  intense  and  passionate  love  of 
liberty,  and  becoming  deeply  affected  by  the  iniquity  of  the 
slave-trade  and  the  cruelty  exercised  toward  slaves  by  their 
owners,  he  earnestly  lifted  up  his  voice  on  behalf  of  the  op 
pressed,  and  strove  to  awaken  Christians  to  a  just  sense  of  the 
sin  of  slaveholding.  He  established  and  taught  gratuitously  an 
evening  school  for  the  instruction  of  negroes.  Under  his  pious 
labors  their  moral  and  religious  advancement  recommended 
the  colored  race  to  the  notice  of  influential  persons,  too  much 
accustomed  to  hold  it  in  contempt.  Among  his  many  publi 
cations  was  an  historical  account  of  Guinea,  which  is  said  to 
have  given  an  impulse  to  the  mind  of  Thomas  Clarkson,  who 
afterward  labored  so  effectively  for  the  abolition  of  the  slave- 
trade  by  the  British  government.  He  exerted  himself  to  in 
duce  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  in  1780,  to  begin  the 
work  of  emancipation. 

By  the  faithful  and  self-denying  labors  of  these  devoted 
pioneers  and  early  advocates  of  antislavery,  and  others  of  less 
note,  covering  a  period  of  a  hundred  years,  was  the  society  of 
Friends  at  length  persuaded  to  rid  itself  of  the  system  of 
enforced  servitude.  Nor  was  this  great  work  accomplished 
without  much  of  exciting  discussion,  stern  rebuke,  and  stirring 
appeal.  For  with  them,  as  with  others,  the  love  of  ease  and  the 
lust  of  dominion  were  strong,  nor  did  they  at  once  and  easily 
let  go  their  hold  on  the  victims  of  their  power.  And  not  until 
the  conscience  of  the  society  was  aroused  by  the  unequivocal 
decisions  of  its  ecclesiastical  tribunals,  showing  slavery  to  be 
a  sin  to  be  repented  of  and  forsaken,  did  it  achieve  the  high 
distinction  of  being  the  first  and  only  denomination  to  purge 
itself  entirely  of  this  great  iniquity. 

Nor  were  the  people  without  remonstrance  and  warning  from 
strangers,  who,  seeing  the  abomination  of  the  system,  boldly 
denounced  its  essential  cruelty  and  wickedness.  John  Wesley, 


BEGINNINGS   AND   GROWTH   OF   SLAVERY.  11 

who  visited  the  country  during  the  early  part  of  the  last  century, 
unequivocally  condemned  it.  His  terse  and  trenchant  charac 
terization  of  slavery,  so  often  repeated,  —  that  it  was  "  the  sum 
of  all  villanies,"  —  was  only  one  of  many  sharp  things  he 
uttered.  He  called  the  system  "  the  vilest  that  ever  saw  the 
sun,"  and  denominated  "  slave-dealers  man-stealers,  —  the 
worst  of  thieves,  in  comparison  with  whom  highway  robbers 
and  housebreakers  are  comparatively  innocent."  To  these 
emphatic  words  he  added  that  "  men-buyers  are  exactly  on  a 
level  with  men-stealers." 

In  1739  George  White  field,  the  renowned  pulpit-orator  and 
evangelist,  having  travelled  extensively  through  the  Southern 
States,  addressed  to  their  inhabitants  a  "  Letter,"  in  which  he 
combined  the  impressions  of  an  eyewitness  with  the  reflections 
of  a  Christian  teacher.  Affirming  that  his  sympathies  had 
been  strongly  excited  by  the  "  miseries  of  the  poor  negroes," 
he  called  attention  to  the  practice  of  slave-masters,  and  the 
encouragement  it  afforded  to  the  savage  tribes  in  Africa  to  con 
tinue  their  warfare  on  each  other,  to  supply  the  demand  for 
slaves  thus  created.  He  charged  the  "generality  of"  them 
with  using  their  slaves  "  as  bad  as  though  they  were  brutes  ; 
nay,  worse,"  —  worse  than  their  horses,  which  were  "  fed  and 
properly  cared  for "  after  the  labors  of  the  day,  while  the 
slaves  must  grind  their  corn  and  prepare  their  own  food,  — 
worse  even  than  their  dogs,  who  are  "  caressed  and  fondled," 
while  the  slaves  "  are  scarce  permitted  to  pick  up  the  crumbs 
which  fall  from  their  master's  table."  He  spoke  of  the  cruel 
lashings  which  "ploughed  their  backs  and  made  long  furrows," 
sometimes  ending  in  death.  He  reminded  them  of  their  spa 
cious  houses  and  sumptuous  fare  ;  while  they  to  whose  "  inde 
fatigable  labors "  their  luxuries  were  "  owing "  had  neither 
convenient  food  to  eat  nor  proper  raiment  to  put  on. 

Among  the  earlier  apostles  of  emancipation  was  Dr.  Samuel 
Hopkins,  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Newport, 
Rhode  Island,  who  was  as  much  distinguished  for  his  advocacy 
of  the  doctrines  of  human  rights  as  of  the  doctrines  of  the  school 
of  theology  which  bears  his  name.  In  1770  he  deliberately 
and  solemnly  resolved  to  attack  the  system  of  kidnapping,  pur- 


12         RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

chasing,  and  retaining  slaves.  Although  Rhode  Island  had,  as 
early  as  1652,  passed  an  act  against  the  purchase  of  negroes, 
she  had  become  deeply  involved  in  the  slave-trade.  Newport 
was  the  great  slave-mart  of  New  England.  Cargoes  of  slaves 
were  often  landed  near  the  church  and  home  of  the  great  di 
vine.  Before  his  congregation,  thus  deeply  involved  in  the 
guilt  of  slave-trading  and  slaveholding,  he  boldly  rebuked  the 
sin  and  pleaded  the  cause  of  its  victims  in  a  discourse  of  great 
plainness  and  power.  It  was  an  unselfish  and  heroic  act, 
imperilling  his  position  both  as  a  pastor  and  as  a  recognized 
leader  in  the  church.  Of  this  noble  act  Whittier  says :  "  It 
may  well  be  doubted  whether,  on  that  Sabbath  day,  the  angels 
of  God,  in  their  wide  survey  of  His  universe,  looked  upon  a 
nobler  spectacle  than  that  of  the  minister  of  Newport,  rising 
up  before  his  slaveholding  congregation,  and  demanding,  in 
the  name  of  the  Highest, '  the  deliverance  of  the  captive  and 
the  opening  of  prison  doors  to  them  that  were  bound  ! '  " 

From  1770  to  1776  Dr.  Hopkins  repeatedly  spoke  on  behalf 
of  the  slave,  visited  from  house  to  house,  and  urged  masters  to 
free  their  bondmen.  In  the  latter  year  he  published  his  dia 
logue  concerning  slavery,  together  with  his  address  to  slave 
holders.  He  dedicated  this  remarkable  production,  said  to 
have  been  "  the  ablest  document  which  had  at  that  time  and 
on  that  theme  appeared  in  the  English  language,"  to  the 
Continental  Congress.  It  had  a  large  circulation  among  the 
statesmen  of  that  day,  and  exerted  a  potent  influence  on 
public  opinion.  This  early  champion  of  the  black  man  was 
cheered  by  the  passage,  in  1774,  of  a  law  prohibiting  the  im 
portation  of  negroes  into  Rhode  Island  ;  and,  in  1784,  by  the 
passage  of  an  act  declaring  all  children  born  after  the  next 
March  free, —  results  to  which  he  had  largely  contributed  by 
his  early,  persistent,  and  self-denying  labors.  His  heart  was 
gladdened,  too,  by  the  action  of  his  church.  Instructed  by  his 
teachings  and  inspired  by  his  zeal,  it  declared  slavery  to  be 
"  a  gross  violation  of  the  righteousness  and  benevolence  of  the 
gospel,"  and  therefore  it  resolved,  "  We  will  not  tolerate  it  in 
this  church." 

In  1773  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  an  eminent  physician,  philan- 


BEGINNINGS   AND   GROWTH   OF   SLAVERY.  13 

thropist,  and  statesman,  published  in  Philadelphia  "  An  Ad 
dress  to  the  Inhabitants  of  the  British  Settlements  in  America 
on  Slave-keeping."  In  this  address  he  combated  the  idea  so 
persistently  pressed  by  the  supporters  of  the  slave-trade,  that 
it  was  impossible  to  carry  on  the  production  of  sugar,  rice,  and 
indigo  without  negro  slaves.  "  No  manufactory,"  he  said,  with 
refreshing  boldness  and  fidelity  to  truth,  "  can  ever  be  of  con 
sequence  enough  to  society  to  admit  the  least  violation  of  the 
laws  of  justice  or  humanity."  This  early  abolitionist  eloquently 
pleaded  the  cause  •  of  "  the  unhappy  Africans  transported  to 
America."  Of  the  slave-traffic  he  said :  "  Future  ages,  when 
they  read  the  accounts  of  the  slave-trade,  if  they  do  not  regard 
them  as  fabulous,  will  be  at  a  loss  which  to  condemn  most, 
our  folly  or  our  guilt  in  abetting  this  direct  violation  of  nature 
and  religion." 

These  utterances  of  those  earlier  apostles  of  emancipation 
awoke  responses  in  the  bosoms  of  many  of  their  countrymen. 
During  the  years  of  agitation  preceding  the  Revolution,  in 
which  the  liberties  of  the  colonies  and  the  rights  of  man  were 
discussed  with  masterly  power  by  the  most  gifted  minds  of 
the  country,  many  of  the  popular  leaders  of  New  England, 
the  Middle  colonies,  and  even  of  Virginia,  did  not  fail  to 
see  and  to  acknowledge  the  wrongfulness  of  slavery,  and  to 
denounce  the  slave-traffic  and  the  slave-extending,  policy  of 
the  British  government.  Many  slave-masters,  who  afterward 
aided  in  inaugurating  the  Revolution,  in  fighting  its  battles, 
and  carrying  the  country  over  from  colonial  dependence  to 
national  independence,  were  hostile  not  only  to  the  slave-trade, 
but  to  the  existence  of  slavery  itself. 

On  the  20th  of  October,  1774,  the  first  Continental  Congress 
signed  and  promulgated  the  Articles  of  Association.  In  that 
bond  of  union,  which  laid  the  foundation  of  the  new  nation, 
the  pledge  was  made  that  the  United  Colonies  would  "neither 
import  nor  purchase  any  slave,"  and  would  "  wholly  discon 
tinue  the  slave-trade."  The  explicit  declaration  was  added, 
that  any  persons  violating  these  Articles  of  Association  should 
be  pronounced  "  foes  to  the  rights  of  British  America,"  "univer 
sally  contemned  as  the  foes  of  American  liberty,"  "  unworthy 


14          RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

of  the  rights  of  freemen."  This  union  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  thirteen  British  colonies,  thus  making  one  people,  was 
begun  with  a  solemn  pledge  wholly  to  abstain  from  all  par 
ticipation  in  a  traffic  then  supported  by  the  commercial  na 
tions  of  Europe.  The  Articles  of  Association,  containing  these 
explicit  pledges,  were  adopted  by  colonial  conventions,  county 
meetings,  and  lesser  assemblages  throughout  the  country,  and 
became  the  fundamental  Constitution  of  the  first  American 
Union. 

That  Congress  gave  expression  to  the  general  sentiment  of 
the  people  of  the  colonies  fully  appears  in  the  declarations  of 
the  North  Carolina  and  Virginia  conventions,  which  sent  dele 
gates  to  that  Congress.  These  conventions  pledged  themselves 
not  to  import  slaves,  and  not  to  purchase  them  when  imported 
by  others.  In  Georgia  —  a  colony  founded  by  James  Ogle- 
thorpe,  who  forbade  slavery  there,  but  whose  humane  purposes 
were  afterward  thwarted  by  avarice  and  power  —  a  public 
meeting  declared  "  their  disapprobation  and  abhorrence  of  the 
unnatural  practice  of  slavery  in  America,"  and  pledged  their 
"  utmost  endeavors  for  the  manumission  of  slaves  in  our  col 
ony."  And  Congress  itself,  on  the  6th  of  April,  1776,  resolved, 
without  opposition,  that  "  no  slave  be  imported  into  any  of  the 
thirteen  united  colonies." 

The  British  commercial  and  colonial  policy,  however,  had 
interested,  active,  and  influential  supporters.  Leading  states 
men  in  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  were  confessedly  not  only 
for  slavery,  but  for  the  continuance  of  the  slave-trade.  In 
Maryland,  Virginia,  and  North  Carolina  slavery  had  still  a 
strong  hold  upon  the  people.  But  their  interest  in  the  do 
mestic  quickened  their  opposition  to  the  foreign  slave-traffic. 
Although  there  were  but  few  negroes  in  the  Middle  and  New- 
England  colonies,  many  of  these  having  been  made  free  by  the 
voluntary  action  of  their  masters,  still  slavery  and  the  slave- 
trade  had  zealous  supporters,  especially  among  the  commercial, 
wealthy,  and  aristocratic  classes.  This  fact  was  signally  mani 
fested  by  the  action  of  Congress  in  striking  from  the  original 
draft  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  Mr.  Jefferson's  ar 
raignment  of  the  British  king  for  forcing  upon  his  American 


BEGINNINGS  AND   GROWTH   OF   SLAVERY.  15 

colonies  that  traffic  in  men  which  he  branded  as  an  "  execrable 
commerce,"  "  a  piratical  warfare,"  "  the  opprobrium  of  infidel 
powers,"  "  a  cruel  war  against  human  nature."  "  That  clause 
reprobating  the  enslaving  of  the  inhabitants  of  Africa  was 
struck  out,"  its  illustrious  author  declares,  "  in  complaisance 
to  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  who  had  never  attempted  to 
restrain  the  importation  of  slaves,  and  who,  on  the  contrary, 
still  wished  to  continue  it.  Our  Northern  brethren,  also,  I 
believe,  felt  a  little  tender  under  those  censures.  Although 
their  people  had  very  few  slaves  themselves,  yet  they  had  been 
pretty  considerable  carriers  of  them  to  others." 

The  same  spirit  and  policy  which  struck  these  words  from 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  influenced  the  action  of  Con 
gress  in  framing  the  Articles  of  Confederation.  The  report  of 
the  committee  to  prepare  a  plan  provided  that  supplies  should 
be  obtained  by  requisitions  on  each  State  in  proportion  to  the 
number  of  its  inhabitants.  This  at  once  and  necessarily  raised 
the  question  of  the  status  of  the  slave.  Mr.  Chase,  of  Mary 
land,  afterwards  one  of  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  moved  to  count  only  the  white  inhabitants. 
"  The  negroes,"  he  said,  "  were  property,  and  no  more  mem 
bers  of  the  state  than  cattle." 

It  was  suggested  by  Mr.  Harrison,  of  Virginia,  that  two 
slaves  should  be  counted  as  one  freeman.  Mr.  Wilson,  of 
Pennsylvania,  said  the  exemption  of  slaves  from  taxation  would 
be  "  the  greatest  encouragement  to  slave-keeping  and  the  impor 
tation  of  slaves."  He  declared  that  they  increased  products 
and  imposed  burdens,  and  prevented  freemen  from  cultivating 
the  country.  "Dismiss  your  slaves,"  he  said ;"  freemen  will 
take  their  places." 

To  this  remark  Mr.  Lynch,  of  South  Carolina,  replied  with  em 
phasis,  "  Our  slaves  are  our  property;  if  that  is  debated,  there  is 
an  end  of  confederation."  He  asked  why  they  should  "  be  taxed 
more  than  sheep."  To  this  question  Franklin  replied :  "  Sheep 
will  never  make  insurrections."  Mr.  Chase's  amendment  was 
rejected.  Georgia  was  divided,  and  all  the  States  north  of 
Mason  and  Dixon's  line  voted  against  it. 

The  obstacles  in  the  way  of  Confederation  being  found  so 


16          RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWEE   IN  AMERICA. 

great,  the  discussion  was  then  suspended  ;  but  it  was  resumed 
again  in  October,  1777.  It  was  then  moved  that  the  supplies 
be  based  on  the  value  of  property  in  each  State.  This  propo 
sition  was  rejected,  and  a  motion  was  made  to  exempt  slaves 
from  taxation.  The  four  New  England  States  voted  against 
it,  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  were  divided,  an.d  Maryland, 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  New  Jersey 
voted  for  it.  This  vote  exempted  slaves  from  taxation  alto 
gether,  either  as  inhabitants  or  property.  It  was  a  complete 
triumph  of  those  representing  the  slave  interest,  and  may  be 
counted  among  the  earlier  illustrations  of  the  potent  influence 
of  the  rising  Slave  Power. 

No  power  was  given  to  the  Confederation  to  regulate  com 
merce.  Each  State  was  left  free  to  decide  what  imports  it 
would  admit  or  prohibit,  so  that  Congress,  after  its  emphatic 
condemnation  by  the  acts  of  1774  and  1776,  "  renounced  for 
ever,"  in  the  words  of  Bancroft,  "  the  power  to  sanction  or  to 
stop  the  slave-trade."  This  result  could  not  but  enure  to  the 
interests  of  slavery  and  to  the  strengthening  of  its  power. 

But  the  Confederation  secured  to  the  free  inhabitants  of  the 
State  all  privileges  and  immunities  of  the  citizens  of  the  several 
States.  The  legislature  of  South  Carolina,  when  the  Articles  of 
Confederation  were  under  consideration,  saw  that  by  this  pro 
vision  the  rights  of  inter-citizenship  were  secured  to  the  free 
colored  inhabitants  of  all  the  States.  After  debate,  the  plan  of 
Confederation  was  returned  to  Congress  with  the  recommenda 
tion  that  inter-citizenship  should  be  confined  to  white  persons. 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia  supported  the  proposed  change, 
but  eight  States  refusing  their  assent,  the  proposition  was  lost. 
In  this  instance  freedom  won,  and  the  claims  of  human  equal 
ity  were  vindicated. 

But  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  at  the  time  of  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independence,  when  the  government  of  England 
ended  and  the  government  of  the  United  States  began,  the 
people  were,  on  the  grounds  of  justice,  humanity,  and  interest, 
largely  in  favor  of  putting  an  end  to  the  African  slave-trade. 
Neither  can  it  be  doubted  that  the  most  conscientious  and 
enlightened  portion  of  the  people,  including  most  of  the  Revo- 


BEGINNINGS   AND   GROWTH  OF   SLAVERY.  17 

iutionary  leaders,  who  guided  the  colonies  through  civil  war 
to  national  unity  and  independence,  believed  slavery  to  be  in 
consistent  with  the  doctrines  they  were  proclaiming  and  the 
civil  institutions  they  were  founding.  The  statesmen  of  that 
era  hoped,  and  confidently  expected,  that  it  would  soon  pass 
away.  But  the  slave  system,  fostered  by  England  and  sus 
tained  by  individual  interest,  indolence,  and  pride,  during  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  had  so  incorporated  itself  into  the 
social  life  of  the  people,  especially  of  the  South,  that,  when 
menaced  by  the  logic  of  events,  it  was  seen  to  have  a  hold  and 
tenacity  of  life  not  dreamed  of  by  either  friend  or  foe.  Cham 
pions  were  ready  not  only  to  protect  it  against  the  advancing 
currents  of  Christian  civilization,  but  also  to  oppose  every 
interest,  every  institution,  and  every  individual  that  menaced 
its  paramount  sway.  Even  then,  when  the  Republic  took  its 
place  in  the  family  of  nations,  had  begun  and  had  far  advanced 
that  work  of  personal  and  public  deterioration,  —  that  poison 
ing  of  the  fountains  of  individual  and  social  life  whose  full 
development  the  Rebellion  revealed,  as  it  was  itself  their  sad 
and  legitimate  result. 


CHAPTER    II. 

ABOLITION.  —  ABOLITION   SOCIETIES, 

Articles  of  Association  of  the  Colonies.  —  Colored  Soldiers.  —  Slavery  abolished 
in  Massachusetts  and  Pennsylvania.  —  The  Pennsylvania  Abolition  Society.  — 
New  York  Abolition  Society.  —  Rhode  Island  Abolition  Society.  —  The  Aboli 
tion  Societies  of  Connecticut,  New  Jersey,  Maryland,  and  Virginia.  —  Character 
of  the  Members  of  the  Abolition  Societies.  —  National  Conventions. 

THE  Republic  of  the  United  States  commenced  its  indepen 
dent  existence  .by  the  proclamation  of  the  self-evident  truths 
that  all  men  are  created  equal,  that  all  have  an  inalienable  right 
to  liberty,  and  that  governments  are  instituted  to  secure  these 
rights.  Thus,  in  the  Articles  of  Association  and  in  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independence,  pronounced  by  John  Hancock  "  the 
ground  and  foundation  of  future  government,"  these  funda 
mental  doctrines  were  recognized :  that  all  men  are  by  nature 
free,  and  that  the  American  government  was  founded  on  the 
rights  of  human  nature.  Nor  was  this  comprehensive  assertion 
of  rights  limited  by  race  or  color.  "  The  new  republic,"  in  the 
words  of  Bancroft,  "  as  it  took  its  place  among  the  powers  of 
the  world,  proclaimed  its  faith  in  the  truth,  reality,  and  un- 
changeableness  of  freedom,  virtue,  and  right."  This  "  asser 
tion  of  right  was  made  for  the  entire  world  of  mankind  and 
all  coming  generations,  without  any  exception  whatever." 

When  the  United  States  joined  the  family  of  nations  there 
were  in  the  country  about  half  a  million  persons  of  African 
descent.     Nearly  all  were  slaves ;  although  there  were  a  few,  \ 
especially  in  the  Eastern  States,  who  had  been  emancipated. 
Some  of  these  bore  an  honorable  part  in  the  War  of  Indepen 
dence.     Crispus  Attucks,  a  colored  patriot,  was  a  leader,  and  - 
the  first  martyr  in  the  Boston  massacre,  on  the  5th  of  March, 
1770,  which  so  fired  the  hearts  and  aroused  the  patriotism  of 


ABOLITION  AND   ABOLITION  SOCIETIES.  19 

the  people.  One  of  that  race  mingled  his  blood  with  the  fallen 
patriots  of  the  19th  of  April,  1775.  The  sons  of  Africa  fought 
side  by  side  with  their  countrymen  of  the  white  race  at  Bunker 
Hill,  where  Major  Pitcairn,  as  he  stormed  the  works,  fell  mor 
tally  wounded  by  the  shot  of  Salem,  a  black  soldier.  Indeed, 
it  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  some  of  the  most  heroic  deeds 
of  the  War  of  Independence  were  performed  by  black  men. 

Rhode  Island  raised  a  colored  regiment,  commanded  by  Colo 
nel  Christopher  Greene,  the  hero  of  Red  Bank.  Of  the  men 
of  this  regiment  Governor  Eustis,  of  Massachusetts,  who  had 
been  Secretary  of  War  under  Jefferson,  said  in  Congress,  in 
1820  :  "  They  discharged  their  duty  with  zeal  and  fidelity. 
The  gallant  defence  of  Red  Bank,  in  which  this  regiment  bore 
a  part,  is  among  the  proofs  of  their  valor."  Tristam  Burgess 
also  said,  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  1828,  that  "  no 
braver  men  met  the  enemy  in  battle."  Of  the  conduct  of  these 
men  in  the  Battle  of  Rhode  Island,  —  pronounced  by  Lafayette 
"  the  best  fought  battle  of  the  war,"  —  Arnold,  in  his  "  History 
of  Rhode  Island,"  says  :  "  It  was  in  repelling  these  furious 
onsets  that  the  newly  raised  black  regiment,  under  Colonel 
Greene,  distinguished  itself  by  deeds  of  desperate  valor. 
Posted  behind  a  thicket  in  the  valley,  they  three  times 
drove  back  the  Hessians,  who  charged  repeatedly  down  the 
hill  to  dislodge  them." 

Connecticut  raised  a  battalion  of  black  soldiers,  and  Colo 
nel  David  Humphrey,  attached  to  the  military  family  of  Wash 
ington,  accepted  a  command  in  this  corps.  The  heroic  de 
fence  of  Fort  Griswold,  on  the  heights  of  Groton,  by  Colonel 
Ledyard  and  his  brave  comrades,  was  among  the  most  brilliant 
achievements  of  the  war.  When  the  works  were  stormed,  the 
British  officer,  exasperated  by  the  heroic  resistance  encoun 
tered,  inquired,  "  Who  commands  this  fort  ?  "  "I  did  ;  you 
do  now,"  replied  Ledyard,  handing  the  officer  his  sword,  which 
was  instantly  seized  and  run  through  his  own  body.  Lambert, 
a  negro  soldier,  avenged  the  murder  of  his  commander  by 
thrusting  his  bayonet  through  the  British  officer,  and  then 
fell  himself,  pierced  with  thirty-three  bayonet  wounds. 

The  right  of  free  negroes  to  bear  arms  in  the  country's  de- 


20          RISE   AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

-  fence  was  not  disputed  in  the  more  Northern  colonies.    At  the 
opening  of  the  war  the  Committee  of  Safety,  in  Massachusetts, 
declared  that  no  slave  should  be  admitted  into  the  army  upon 
any  consideration  whatever,  as  it  would  be  "  inconsistent  with 
the  principles  that  are  to  be  supported,  and  reflect  dishonor  on 
this  colony."     Many  were  emancipated  on  condition  of  enter- 

*  ing  the  army.      Not  always,  however,  did  they  receive  the 
reward   due   to   their   bravery.     In  Maryland   and   Virginia, 

•  some  who  had  served  with  fidelity  to  the  close  of  the  war 
were  afterward  dishonorably  and  wickedly  reduced  to  slavery. 
When  the  heel  of  British  tyranny  was   resting   heavily  on 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia, Colonel  John  Laurens,  a  member 
of  Washington's  military  family,  sought  to  fill  the   patriot 
ranks  by  emancipating  slaves  and  enrolling  them  in  the  ranks 
of  the  country's  defenders.     This  eminently  wise  and  patriotic 
effort,  though   encouraged  by   Congress,  and  sanctioned   by 
Washington,  met  with  little  success  ;  and  that  heroic  son  of 
South  Carolina,  whose  life,  near  the  close  of  hostilities,  was 
given  to  the  country,  was  forced   to  declare  that  "  avarice, 
pusillanimity,  and  prejudice  "  defeated  the  measure. 

In  the  midst  of  the  war  all  the  States,  with  the  exception 
of  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  framed  and  adopted  consti 
tutions.  The  settlers  of  Vermont,  in  1777,  framed  a  constitu 
tion  forever  excluding  slavery  from  that  Commonwealth ; 
but  it  did  not  become  a  State  until  after  the  adoption  of  the 
Federal  Constitution.  The  constitution  of  Massachusetts  was 
adopted  in  1780.  Its  Bill  of  Rights  declares  that  "  all  men 
are  born  free  and  equal,  and  have  certain  natural,  essential, 
and  inalienable  rights ;  among  which  may  be  reckoned  the 
right  of  enjoying  and  defending  their  lives  and  liberties." 

Before  the  adoption  of  this  constitution  several  unsuccessful 
attempts  had  been  made  to  extirpate  slavery  and  the  slave- 
traffic.  A  bill  for  that  purpose  had  been  introduced  in  1767  ; 
and  three  measures  for  the  prohibition  of  the  slave-trade  had 
failed  to  receive  executive  approval.  After  the  commencement 
of  the  war  petitions  were  presented  to  the  legislature  in  favor 
of  emancipation.  Among  these  petitions  was  one  presented 
in  1777  by  several  colored  persons,  praying  that  they  might 


ABOLITION  AND   ABOLITION   SOCIETIES.  21 

"  be  restored  to  the  enjoyment  of  that  freedom  which  is  the 
natural  right  of  all  men."  It  was  referred  to  a  committee, 
which  promptly  reported  a  bill  "  to  prevent  the  practice  of 
holding  persons  in  slavery."  It  declared  that  "  the  practice 
of  holding  Africans,  and  the  children  born  of  them,  or  any 
other  person  in  slavery  is  unjustifiable  in  a  civil  government 
at  a  time  when  they  are  asserting  their  natural  rights  to  free 
dom."  Before  acting  upon  this  bill,  the  legislature,  fearing  to 
give  offence  to  some  of  the  States,  addressed  a  letter  to  the 
Continental  Congress  to  ascertain  its  views  concerning  the 
expediency  of  such  action.  In  this  letter  they  say :  "  Con 
vinced  of  the  justice  of  the  measure,  we  are  restrained  from 
passing  it  only  from  an  apprehension  that  our  brethren  in  the 
other  colonies  should  conceive  there  was  an  impropriety  in  our 
determining  on  a  question  which  may  in  its  nature  and  opera 
tion  be  of  extensive  influence,  without  previously  consulting 
your  Honors."  "  And,"  they  continue,  "  we  ask  the  attention 
of  your  Honors  to  this  matter,  that,  if  consistent  with  the 
union  and  harmony  of  the  United  States,  we  may  follow  the 
dictates  of  our  own  understanding  and  feelings ;  at  the  same 
time  assuring  your  Honors  that  we  have  such  a  sacred  regard  to 
the  union  and  harmony  of  the  United  States  as  to  conceive  our 
selves  under  obligation  to  refrain  from  any  measure  that  should 
have  a  tendency  to  injure  that  union  which  is  the  basis  of  our 
defence  and  happiness."  To  this  communication,  breathing 
the  spirit  of  freedom,  the  desire  to  do  justly,  and  their  intense 
anxiety  to  preserve  harmony,  and  not  to  break  with  the  other 
States,  no  response  was  returned. 

What,  however,  Massachusetts  failed  to  effect  by  direct  legis 
lation  was  secured  indirectly  through  the  decisions  of  her  Su 
preme  Court  based  on  a  clause  in  her  Bill  of  Rights.  Cases 
soon  arose  involving  the  question  of  the  legality  of  slavery  under 
her  new  constitution  in  which  such  eminent  lawyers  and  states 
men  as  Levi  Lincoln,  Caleb  Strong,  and  Theodore  Sedgwick 
were  engaged  in  behalf  of  those  claiming  their  freedom.  By 
one  of  these  decisions  a  master  had  lost  ten  slaves.  In  a  me 
morial  to  the  legislature  for  relief  he  urged  as  a  reason  for  his 
plea  that  "  by  the  determination  of  the  Supreme  Court  the  said 


22          RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN   AMERICA. 

clause  in  the  Bill  of  Rights  is  so  to  be  construed  as  to  operate 
to  the  total  discharge  and  manumission  of  all  negro  servants 
whatsoever."  So  Massachusetts,  while  yet  the  war  was  raging 
for  national  independence,  and  before  that  independence  was 
recognized  by  the  treaty  of  peace,  became  a  free  State  ;  taking 
her  place  in  the  van,  —  a  relative  position  she  has  honorably 
maintained,  not  indeed  without  some  faltering  and  mistakes, 
in  the  long  struggle  with  slavery  and  the  Slave  Power. 

In  1780  Pennsylvania,  under  the  lead  of  George  Bryan,  and, 
no  doubt,  largely  influenced  by  the  indefatigable  Anthony  Bene- 
zet,  who  is  said  to  have  had  a  personal  conference  with  every 
member  of  her  legislature,  passed  "  an  act  of  gradual  abolition," 
by  which  the  importation  of  slaves  was  prohibited,  and  all  per 
sons  born  or  brought  into  the  State  were  made  free.  The  minor 
ity,  however,  entered  their  protest ;  "  because,"  they  say,  "  if  the 
time  ever  comes  when  slaves  might  be  safely  emancipated,  we 
cannot  agree  to  their  being  made  free  citizens  in  so  extensive 
a  manner."  These  protesting  legislators  further  expressed 
their  belief  that  the  negroes  would  be  satisfied  "  without  giv 
ing  them  the  right  of  voting  for  and  being  voted  into  office." 
In  1784  New  Hampshire,  like  Massachusetts,  became  a  free 
State  by  the  judicial  interpretation  of  her  constitution. 

The  Virginia  Assembly,,  on  motion  of  Jefferson,  in  1778, 
prohibited  the  further  introduction  of  slaves ;  and  in  1782  the 
old  colonial  statute  was  repealed,  which  forbade  emancipations 
except  for  meritorious  services.  During  this  repeal,  which 
continued  in  force  for  ten  years,  a  large  number  of  such  manu 
missions  took  place.  It  was,  however,  subsequently  re-enacted  ; 
and  that  source  of  just  and  humane  individual  action,  being 
forcibly  stopped,  gradually  dried  up  and  ceased  to  flow.  Mary 
land,  like  Virginia,  both  prohibited  the  introduction  of  slaves 
and  removed  the  restriction  on  individual  emancipation. 

In  the  same  year,  immediately  after  the  close  of  the  war,  the 
Pennsylvania  Abolition  Society  was  resuscitated.  It  had  been 
organized  before  the  Revolution,  being  the  first  abolition  soci 
ety  ever  formed,  as  it  is  now  the  oldest  in  the  world.  Its 
primary  purpose  was  indicated  by  its  name,  "  The  society  for 
the  relief  of  free  negroes,  unlawfully  held  in  bondage."  In  its 


ABOLITION  AND   ABOLITION   SOCIETIES.  23 

preamble  it  was  stated  that  many  were  unlawfully  held  in  bon 
dage  who  were  "justly  entitled  to  their  freedom  by  the  laws 
and  constitution."  John  Baldwin  was  its  first  president.  A 
Committee  of  Inspection  was  appointed,  whose  title,  in  con 
nection  with  the  name  of  the  society,  sufficiently  indicates  the 
functions  of  their  office.  During  the  first  year  of  its  existence 
it  was  eminently  successful  in  its  operations.  But  the  break 
ing  out  and  progress  of  the  war  diverted  and  absorbed  public 
attention.  The  active  prosecution  of  its  chosen  work  was 
mostly  suspended,  and  no  meetings  were  held  until  the  year 
1784.  Although  there  are  no  records  of  its  doings,  it  is 
not  probable  that  such  men  were  idle  during  that  eventful 
period. 

Upon  its  resuscitation  the  society  commenced  operations 
with  great  vigor,  extending  them  wherever  there  were  evils, 
incident  to  slavery,  to  be  remedied  or  removed.  As  it  became 
known  and  appreciated,  men  eminent  for  public  service  became 
members.  In  1787  it  revised  its  constitution,  enlarged  both 
its  name  and  range  of  effort,  and  became  "  The  Pennsylvania. 
Society  for  promoting  the  abolition  of  slavery,  the  relief  of  free 
negroes  unlawfully  held  in  bondage,  and  for  improving  the 
condition  of  the  African  race."  The  illustrious  Franklin  was 
made  its  president.  By  accepting  this  trust  and  actively 
discharging  its  duties,  he  not  only  honored  himself  and  the 
society,  but  he  did  much  to  vindicate  his  great  reputation. 
By  it  he  showed  that  among  the  statesmen  of  his  day  he  was 
unseduced  by  sophistries  and  compromises,  and  remained  true 
to  the  doctrine  of  human  rights  and  the  self-evident  truths  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence.  It  showed  him,  too,  as  dis 
tinguished  for  his  broad  philanthropy  as  for  his  practical 
sagacity ;  indeed,  that  his  philanthropy  was  the  highest  style 
and  development  of  that  sagacity. 

Thus  reorganized  and  officered,  it  entered  vigorously  upon 
its  long  and  honorable  mission.  Among  its  first  acts  was  the 
distribution  of  copies  of  its  constitution  and  the  act  for  the 
gradual  abolition  of  slavery  in  Pennsylvania  to  the  governors 
of  the  several  States.  It  also  opened  a  correspondence  with 
eminent  men  in  the  United  States,  England,  and  France.  It 


24         BISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMEEICA. 

was  a  live  society,  catholic  in  its  membership,  and  national  and 
world-wide  in  the  reach  and  range  of  its  purposes  and  plans. 
Thus,  learning  that  vessels  were  still  surreptitiously  fitted  out 
in  Pennsylvania  for  the  slave-trade,  it  petitioned  the  legislature 
for  a  supplementary  law  to  prevent  it ;  and  the  law  was  en 
acted.  Hearing  that  slave-ships  were  fitted  out  in  Rhode 
Island  for  a  similar  purpose,  it  at  once  called  the  attention  of 
the  citizens  of  that  State  to  the  disgraceful  traffic.  In  1790  it 
addressed  a  memorial  to  Congress,  signed  by  its  distinguished 
president,  asking  that  body  to  "  step  to  the  very  verge  of  its 
power  "  in  behalf  of  those  held  in  bondage.  Year  after  year, 
for  almost  half  a  century,  it  continued  to  memorialize  Congress 
against  oppression,  and  in  the  interests  of  humanity  and  free 
dom.  It  brought  a  case  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsyl 
vania  involving  the  question  "whether  slavery  in  any  modi 
fication  whatever  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  constitution  of 
the  State."  Though  the  decision  of  the  court  was  adverse,  this 
effort  revealed  its  activity  and  fidelity. 

Ever  on  the  alert,  watching  Congress,  the  State  legislature, 
the  courts,  and  the  movements  in  other  States,  it  was  always 
ready,  with  remonstrance  and  advice,  pecuniary  or  moral  aid, 
to  help  forward  the  cause  for  which  it  was  organized.  And  it 
was  doubtless  due  to  that  zeal,  watchfulness,  and  wide-spread 
influence,  that  the  representatives  of  Pennsylvania  occupied  a 
position  so  honorable  in  their  devotion  to  freedom  and  the 
claims  of  humanity  during  the  first  twenty  years  under  the 
Constitution.  But  in  the  American  Convention  of  Abolition 
Societies,  in  1804,  a  decline  of  interest  in  the  cause  of  emanci 
pation  was  admitted  and  deplored,  and  the  absence  of  dele 
gates  and  communications  from  Southern  societies  was  made 
the  subject  of  regretful  allusion.  In  1809,  after  an  active  ser 
vice  of  twenty-five  years,  it  declared  that  "  hitherto  the  ap 
proving  voice  of  the  community  and  the  liberal  interpretation 
of  the  laws  have  smoothed  the  path  of  duty  and  promoted  a 
satisfactory  issue  to  our  humane  exertions.  At  present,  how 
ever,  the  sentiments  of  our  fellow-citizens  and  the  decisions  of 
our  courts  are  less  auspicious." 

But,  in  spite  of  these  inauspicious  indications,  the  Pennsyl- 


ABOLITION  AND   ABOLITION  SOCIETIES.  25 

vania  Abolition  Society  toiled  bravely  on.  It  made  special 
efforts  against  kidnapping ;  educated  and  secured  homes  for 
colored  children.  It  examined  laws  respecting  colored  people, 
noted  their  defects,  and  prepared  bills  for  the  legislature.  It 
memorialized  Congress  on  the  fugitive-slave  law  and  the  slave- 
trade.  In  1818  it  examined  and  condemned  the  colonization 
scheme,  then  just  inaugurated.  In  1819  it  appointed  a  com 
mittee  to  watch  the  struggle  for  the  admission  of  Missouri ; 
and  in  1820  it  obtained  from  the  government  a  portion  of  the 
school  fund  for  colored  children.  In  the  same  year  it  memo 
rialized  the  legislature  for  the  total  abolition  of  slavery  in  that 
commonwealth.  Three  years  afterward  it  sent  to  Congress  an 
elaborate  memorial  against  Southern  laws  imprisoning  colored 
seamen ;  and  in  1827  it  "  succeeded  in  procuring  the  erasure 
of  the  most  obnoxious  features  "  of  a  fugitive-slave  bill  intro 
duced  into  the  State  legislature.  In  1830  it  procured  a  "  sup 
plementary  law"  to  the  act  against  kidnapping.  Under  its 
lead  the  American  Convention  met  in  Baltimore  in  1828,  and 
in  Washington  in  1829. 

In  the  year  1833  it  received  a  letter  from  the  New  Haven 
Antislavery  Society,  one  of  the  first  of  the  modern  societies  on 
the  basis  of  immediate  and  unconditional  emancipation.  This 
veteran  abolition  society,  which  had  been  the  leader  in  anti- 
slavery  movements  for  half  a  century,  cordially  welcomed  its 
new  coadjutor.  It  took  occasion,  however,  to  refer  to  "  the 
apathy  which  has  so  generally  pervaded  the  United  States 
upon  this  subject,"  —  "a  state  of  torpor  and  insensibility." 
Referring  to  the  year  1794,  when  a  convention  of  abolition 
societies  was  held  in  Philadelphia,  it  said,  "  Since  that  time 
we  have  seen  one  after  another  discontinue  its  labors,  until  we 
were  left  almost  alone."  From  that  time  the  society  has  con 
tinued  steadfast  in  its  support  of  the  objects  for  which  it  was 
organized  before  the  formation  of  the  general  government. 
Caring  for  the  lowly  ones  by  such  methods  as  an  earnest  pur 
pose  and  the  wisdom  of  experience  suggested,  it  has  ever  been 
mindful  of  the  general  interests  of  emancipation.  Though 
long  the  acknowledged  head  of  movements  for  the  freedom 
and  elevation  of  the  African  race,  and  long  among  the  faitli' 


26          RISE   AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

less  found  faithful  only  itself,  yet,  when  the  antislavery  cause 
came  up  under  other  auspices,  and  on  a  basis  more  clearly 
denned,  and  better  adapted  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  the  coun 
try  and  the  race,  it  gracefully  relinquished  the  lead  to  those 
who,  with  fresher  impulses,  were  but  carrying  out  the  aims  it 
had  so  long  and  so  faithfully  pursued. 

The  New  York  Abolition  Society  was  formed  in  January, 
1785.  Its  officers  were  taken  from  the  most  illustrious  men 
of  that  day  in  that  Commonwealth.  John  Jay,  who  had  char 
acterized  slavery  as  a  crime  of  "  crimson  dye,"  was  chosen 
president,  and  Alexander  Hamilton  secretary.  Among  its 
earlier  acts  was  the  printing,  for  gratuitous  circulation,  of  the 
masterly  argument  of  Dr.  Hopkins,  contained  in  his  dialogue. 
The  legislature  of  New  York  had  refused,  in  1785,  to  adopt  a 
system  of  gradual  emancipation.  This  society  petitioned  that 
body  year  after  year,  until,  in  1799,  such  an  act  was  passed, 
declaring  all  children  born  thereafter  to  be  free,  —  males  on 
becoming  twenty-eight,  and  females  on  becoming  twenty-five 
years  of  age. 

The  Rhode  Island  Society  was  organized  in  February,  1789. 
The  first  meeting  for  its  formation  was  held  at  the  house  of 
Dr.  Hopkins,  at  Newport,  though  the  organization  was  com 
pleted  at  Providence.  Several  gentlemen  of  Massachusetts, 
eminent  for  philanthropy  and  piety,  were  members,  and  a  few 
from  other  States,  among  whom  was  Jonathan  Edwards,  of 
Connecticut.  Although  Rhode  Island  had  provided  that  all 
of  African  descent  born  after  March,  1784,  should  be  free,  this 
society  found  sufficient  scope  for  its  labors  in  carrying  out  the 
objects  of  its  formation,  —  "  the  abolition  of  slavery,  the  relief 
of  persons  unlawfully  held  in  bondage,  and  for  improving  the 
condition  of  the  African  race." 

In  1790  the  Connecticut  Abolition  Society  was  formed.  Dr. 
Ezra  Stiles,  president  of  Yale  College,  and  Judge  Baldwin, 
were  its  president  and  secretary.  Though  Connecticut,  like 
Rhode  Island,  had  passed  an  act  in  1784  providing  for  the 
gradual  abolition  of  slavery,  and  though  there  were  less  than 
three  thousand  slaves  in  the  State,  yet  the  strong  proslavery 
feeling  and  conservative  interest  which  obtained  there  opened 


ABOLITION  AND   ABOLITION   SOCIETIES.  27 

a  wide  and  important  field  for  its  service.  Numbering  among 
its  members  some  of  the  best  and  ablest  men  of  a  State  which 
could  then  boast  of  many  distinguished  for  their  piety,  learn 
ing,  and  political  eminence,  it  labored  with  zeal  and  fidelity. 

It  was  before  this  society  that  Jonathan  Edwards  the 
younger,  in  1791,  proclaimed  that  "  every  man  who  cannot 
show  that  his  negro  hath  by  his  voluntary  conduct  forfeited 
his  liberty,  is  obligated  immediately  to  manumit  him."  Here 
was  clearly  promulgated  the  duty  of  immediate  emancipation, 
as  distinctly  as  it  has  ever  been  enunciated  by  any  antislavery 
writer,  orator,  or  society  before  or  since.  And  this  is  a  fact 
of  some  significance,  as  well  as  of  justice,  to  some  of  those 
early  pioneers  in  the  cause  of  emancipation,  because  of  the 
impression  sometimes  conveyed  that  this  is  a  doctrine  of  more 
modern  origin.  Nor  were  the  reasons  assigned  for  this  pro 
nounced  and  unequivocal  opinion  less  radical  and  uncompro 
mising.  "  To  hold  a  man,"  he  solemnly  avowed,  "  in  a  state 
of  slavery  who  has  a  right  to  his  liberty  is  to  be  every  day 
guilty  of  robbing  him  of  his  liberty,  or  of  man-stealing,  and  is 
a  greater  sin  in  the  sight  of  God'  than  concubinage  or  forni 
cation." 

Language  more  expressive  of  the  essential  wickedness  of 
slavery  could  hardly  be  employed.  And  it  is  to  be  remem 
bered  that  this  was  the  opinion,  not  only  of  one  of  the  leading 
minds  of  New  England,  but  of  a  class  of  men  which  held  with 
him  the  duty  of  immediate  repentance  for  sin,  and  of  another 
smaller  but  highly  cultivated  class  which  had  accepted  the  new 
philosophy  of  the  French  school. 

An  Abolition  Society  was  formed  in  New  Jersey  in  1792, 
which  largely  contributed  to  the  extirpation  of  slavery  in  that 
State.  Such  societies  were  formed  in  the  more  Southern  and 
more  proslavery  States  of  Delaware,  Maryland,  and  Virginia. 
Belonging  to  them  and  their  auxiliaries  were  some  of  their 
most  eminent  jurists  and  statesmen.  They  labored  earnestly, 
and  looked  forward  hopefully  to  the  day,  then  generally  antici 
pated,  when  slavery  would  yield  to  the  benign  influences  of 
the  Christian  religion  and  of  republican  institutions,  and  pass 
away. 


28          RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

The  Baltimore  Abolition  Society  declared  the  objects  of  its 
association  to  be  founded  in  "  reason  and  humanity,"  and  on 
"  an  avowed  enmity  to  slavery  in  every  form."  The  Virginia 
Abolition  Society  was  equally  clear  and  explicit  in  its  avowal 
that  righteousness  exalteth  a  nation  ;  and  that  slavery  is  not 
only  an  odious  degradation,  but  an  outrageous  violation  of  one 
of  the  most  essential  rights  of  human  nature,  and  utterly  "  re 
pugnant  to  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel." 

These  early  abolition  societies  embraced  in  their  member 
ship  some  of  the  purest  philanthropists,  the  ripest  scholars, 
most  eminent  jurists  and  the  honored  statesmen  of  that  age. 
They  were  deeply  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  liberty,  and  were 
loyal  to  the  precepts  of  Christianity.  Ever  zealous,  earnest, 
and  devoted,  they  labored  effectively  in  the  cause  of  emanci 
pation  and  of  the  general  elevation  of  the  African  race.  For 
several  years  national  conventions,  in  which  these  societies 
were  represented,  were  annually  held.  Earnest  arguments 
and  appeals  were  made  by  these  conventions  to  Congress,  to 
the  State  legislatures,  to  the  free  people  of  color,  and  to  the 
country,  to  aid  in  the  suppression  of  the  slave-trade,  the  repeal 
of  inhuman  statutes,  the  protection  of  free  persons  of  color,  and 
the  promotion  of  the  general  interests  of  freedom. 

The  antislavery  National  Convention  of  1795  addressed 
South  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  the  people  of  the  United  States. 
The  address  to  South  Carolina  was  written  by  Jonathan  Ed 
wards  the  younger,  a  delegate  from  Connecticut.  In  that  ad 
dress  he  made  an  earnest  appeal  in  favor  of  "  a  numerous  class 
of  men  existing  among  them  deprived  of  their  natural  rights 
and  forcibly  held  in  bondage."  He  called  upon  them  to  amel 
iorate  their  condition,  and  to  diffuse  knowledge  among  them. 
He  declared,  as  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  traffic  in  man, 
that  "  the  minds  of  our  citizens  are  debased  and  their  hearts 
hardened  by  contemplating  these  people  only  through  the  me 
dium  of  avarice  or  prejudice." 

In  the  address  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  the 
Convention  distinctly  avowed  its  design  to  be  "  the  univer 
sal  emancipation  of  the  wretched  Africans  who  were  yet  in 
bondage."  It  thus  appealed  to  the  people  of  all  the  States : 


ABOLITION  AND   ABOLITION   SOCIETIES.  29 

"  We  cannot  forbear  expressing  to  you  our  earnest  desire  that 
you  will  continue  without  ceasing  to  endeavor,  by  every  method 
in  your  power  which  can  promise  any  success,  to  procure  either 
an  absolute  repeal  of  all  the  laws  in  your  State  which  counte 
nance  slavery,  or  such  an  amelioration  of  them  as  will  grad 
ually  produce  an  entire  abolition.  Yet,  even  should  that  great 
end  be  happily  attained,  it  cannot  put  a  period  to  the  necessity 
of  further  labor.  The  education  of  the  emancipated  —  the  no 
blest  and  most  arduous  task  which  we  have  to  perform  —  will 
require  all  our  wisdom  and  virtue,  and  the  constant  exercise 
of  the  greatest  skill  and  discretion.  When  we  have  broken 
his  chains,  and  restored  the  African  to  the  enjoyment  of  his 
rights,  the  great  work  of  justice  and  benevolence  is  not  accom 
plished.  The  new-born  citizen  must  receive  that  instruction, 
and  those  powerful  impressions  of  moral  and  religious  truth, 
which  will  render  him  capable  and  desirous  of  fulfilling  the 
various  duties  he  owes  to  himself  and  to  his  country.  By  edu 
cating  some  in  the  higher  branches  of  science,  and  all  in  the 
useful  parts  of  learning,  and  in  the  precepts  of  religion  and 
morality,  we  shall  not  only  do  away  the  reproach  and  calumny 
so  unjustly  lavished  upon  us,  but  confound  the  enemies  of  truth 
by  evincing  that  the  unhappy  sons  of  Africa,  in  spite  of  the 
degrading  influence  of  slavery,  are  in  no  wise  inferior  to  the 
more  fortunate  inhabitants  of  Europe  and  America." 

The  Convention,  in  these  thorough  and  radical  sentiments, 
unquestionably  represented  the  views,  principles,  and  purposes 
of  the  abolition  societies  of  those  days.  As  a  mode  of  action, 
they  recommended  periodical  discourses  "  on  the  subject  of 
slavery  and  the  means  of  its  abolition  " ;  and  they  supported 
their  recommendation  by  considerations  not  often  exceeded  in 
thoroughness,  cogency,  and  forcible  expression.  "  If  to  many 
persons,"  they  say,  "  who  continue  the  hateful  practice  of  en 
slaving  their  fellow-men,  were  often  applied  the  force  of  reason 
and  the  persuasion  of  eloquence,  they  might  be  awakened  to  a 
sense  of  their  injustice  and  startled  with  horror  at  the  enor 
mity  of  their  conduct." 

While  enlightened,  liberal,  and  Christian  statesmen  and  phi 
lanthropists  believed  with  Franklin  that  slavery  was  "  an  atro- 


30         RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

cious  debasement  of  human  nature,"  and  desired  with  Washing 
ton  to  see  some  plan  adopted  by  which  it  "  could  be  abolished 
by  law,"  there  was  a  powerful  class,  especially  in  the  Carolinas 
and  Georgia,  that  actively  and  persistently  resisted  everything 
that  tended  to  the  destruction  of  a  system  which  secured  to 
them  wealth,  social  distinction,  and  political  power.  It  is  in 
deed  true,  that  the  best  portion  of  the  cultivated  and  Chris 
tian  mind  of  that  day  saw  the  essential  injustice  and  enormity 
of  slavery,  and  the  duty  of  its  discontinuance,  as  clearly  as 
they  have  ever  been  seen  since.  But  the  uneducated  and 
unreflecting  masses,  taking  counsel  of  their  feelings  of  indo 
lence  and  avarice,  and  of  those  induced,  in  the  language  of 
Jefferson,  by  their  "  quiet  and  monotonous  course  of  colonial 
life,"  largely  influenced  and  led,  too,  by  the  dominant  class,  had 
little  sympathy  with  these  abstract  ideas  of  right,  justice,  and 
humanity,  and  little  disposition  to  legislate  in  harmony  with 
them.  Mr.  Jefferson  wrote,  near  the  close  of  life,  that  he 
"  soon  saw  that  nothing  was  to  be  hoped  from  such  "  ;  and  he 
added  that,  at  the  first  or  second  session  of  the,  Virginia  legis 
lature,  of  which  he  himself  was  a  member,  Colonel  Bland, "  one 
of  the  oldest,  ablest,  and  most  respectable  members,  was  de 
nounced  as  an  enemy  to  his  country,  and  was  treated  with  the 
greatest  indecorum,"  for  moving  "  a  moderate  protection  of 
the  laws  to  these  people." 

Although  the  leading  men  of  Virginia  —  Washington,  Jef 
ferson,  Henry,  and  Mason  —  were  hostile  to  slavery,  and  were 
pronounced  emancipationists,  yet  so  powerful  and  despotic  was 
the  slaveholding  class,  and  so  indifferent  were  the  masses  of 
the  people,  that  Washington,  writing  to  Lafayette  in  1785, 
only  two  years  after  the  close  of  the  war  fought  in  the  name  of 
human  equality,  confessed  that  "  petitions  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery  presented  to  the  Virginia  legislature  could  scarcely 
obtain  a  hearing."  Thus  it  happened  that  the  same  people, 
speaking  in  the  language  of  their  most  humane  and  culti 
vated  men,  —  divines,  philanthropists,  statesmen,  and  illus 
trious  Revolutionary  leaders,  —  uttered  the  clear,  ringing 
words  of  liberty  ;  while  by  their  legislation,  under  the  malign 
influence  of  slavery,  they  gave  the  lie  to  these  utterances 
and  framed  iniquity  into  law. 


CHAPTER  III. 

SLAVERY  IN  THE  TERRITORIES.  —  ORDINANCE  OF  1787. 

Public  Domain.  —  Cessions  of  Territory  by  the  States.  —  Mr.  Jefferson's  proposed 
Inhibition  of  Slavery  in  the  Territories.  — Ordinance  of  1787,  reported  by  Na 
than  Dane.  —  Adopted  by  Congress.  —  Sanctioned  by  First  Congress  under  the 
Constitution.  —  Efforts  to  suspend  it  in  Indiana.  —  Blessings  of  the  Ordi 
nance  of  1787.  — Cessions  of  North  Carolina  and  Georgia,  with  Limitations 
concerning  Slavery.  —  The  Mississippi  Territory.  —  Debate  on  Mr.  Thatcher's 
Antislavery  Amendment. 

THE  Treaty  of  Peace,  by  which  the  independence  of  the  thir 
teen  British  Colonies  was  acknowledged,  was  signed  at  Paris 
on  the  30th  of  November,  1782.  Beyond  the  western  boun 
daries  of  the  States,  and  between  the  31st  and  47th  parallels  of 
latitude,  lay  a  vast  and  fertile  territory,  conceded  to  be  em 
braced  within  the  limits  of  the  new  Republic.  Not  only  were 
these  rich  lands  looked  to  as  a  source  of  revenue  for  the  pay 
ment  of  the  debt  incurred  in  the  War  of  Independence,  but 
the  far-seeing  statesmen  of  that  day  saw  that  States  carved 
from  this  territory  would  exert  a  powerful,  if  not  controlling 
influence  in  shaping  the  destinies  of  the  country.  To  the 
future  of  the  United  States  it  was  then  a  question  of  tran 
scendent  importance  whether  it  should  be  organized  into  free 
or  slave  States.  Hence,  among  the  first  measures  of  the  Con 
tinental  Congress,  after  the  British  forces  had  left  the  country, 
was  an  effort  to  fix  the  condition  of  this  immense  public 
domain. 

The  States  of  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  York,  Vir 
ginia,  North  Carolina,  and  Georgia  each  claimed  severally, 
under  their  respective  charters,  a  portion  of  this  territory. 
These  claims  were  warmly  opposed  by  the  landless  States, 
which  justly  held  that  this  territory  had  been  conjointly  won, 
and  should  therefore  inure  to  the  common  benefit. 


32          RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

On  the  first  day  of  March,  1784,  Mr.  Jefferson  presented  to 
the  Continental  Congress,  then  assembled  in  Annapolis,  a  deed 
of  cession  of  all  the  lands  claimed  by  Virginia  northwest  of 
the  Ohio  River.  A  select  committee  was  appointed,  consisting 
of  himself,  Mr.  Chase  of  Maryland,  and  Mr.  Howell  of  Rhode 
Island ;  and  this  committee  reported  a  plan  for  the  govern 
ment  of  the  territory  ceded,  or  to  be  ceded.  This  plan  con 
templated  its  ultimate  division  into  seventeen  States.  It  was 
therein  provided  that,  "  after  the  year  of  the  Christian  era 
1800,  there  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude 
in  any  of  these  States,  otherwise  than  in  the  punishment  of 
crime,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted." 

This  provision  was  stricken  out  on  motion  of  Mr.  Spaight 
of  North  Carolina,  seconded  by  Mr.  Read  of  South  Carolina. 
It  required  the  votes  of  nine  States  to  retain  it  as  a  part  of  the 
ordinance.  Only  six  voted  for  it,  —  New  Hampshire,  Massa 
chusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New  York,  and  Pennsyl 
vania.  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  South  Carolina  voted  against 
it.  North  Carolina  was  divided.  Delaware  and  Georgia  were 
not  present.  Mr.  Dick  of  New  Jersey  voted  to  retain  it ;  but 
as  two  members  were  required  to  give  the  vote  of  a  State,  that 
State  was  not  represented  in  the  vote.  Though  sixteen  mem 
bers  voted  for  the  prohibition  of  slavery,  and  only  seven  voted 
against  it,  yet  then,  as  so  often  since,  slavery,  though  in  a 
lean  minority,  gained  a  victory  that  should  have  fallen  to  the 
other  side.  This  important  measure  would  have  saved  to 
freedom  not  only  the  territory  of  the  Northwest,  but  also  Ken 
tucky,  Tennessee,  Alabama,  and  Mississippi. 

In  March,  1785,  Rufus  King,  a  delegate  from  Massachusetts, 
moved  to  modify  the  report  made  at  the  previous  session,  by 
inserting  therein  a  total  and  immediate  prohibition  of  slavery ; 
but  his  motion  failed.  In  July,  1787,  a  committee,  of  which 
Nathan  Dane  of  Massachusetts  was  chairman,  reported  an 
ordinance  for  the  territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio,  in  which 
there  should  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude. 
With  it  there  was,  however,  a  stipulation  for  the  rendition  of 
fugitive  slaves.  This  ordinance  —  which  consecrated  to  free 
dom  the  fertile  territory  covered  now  by  the  great  States  of 


SLAVERY  IN  THE   TERRITORIES.  —  ORDINANCE   OF   1787.          33 

Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  and  Wisconsin  —  was  passed 
on  the  13th  of  July,  1787  ;  every  State  voting  for  it,  Mr.  Yates 
of  New  York  alone  voting  against  it. 

In  July,  1789,  Mr.  Fitzsimmons  of  Pennsylvania  reported 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  a  bill  for  the  government  of 
the  territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio  River,  which  passed  both 
houses  without  opposition.  This  act  gave  the  emphatic  sanc 
tion  of  the  first  Congress  under  the  Constitution  to  the  ordi 
nance  of  1787,  prohibiting  forever  slavery  in  the  territory  north 
west  of  the  Ohio. 

But,  notwithstanding  this  prohibition  was  so  solemnly  and 
with  such  unanimity  adopted,  the  most  persistent  efforts  were 
subsequently  made  to  give  slavery  a  foothold  in  that  region. 
After  the  admission  of  Ohio  as  a  free  State,  the  remainder  of 
that  territory  was  organized  under  the  name  of  the  Territory 
of  Indiana.  Most  of  its  settlers,  coming  from  the  slavehold- 
ing  States,  —  with  their  former  tastes,  habits,  and  prejudices, 
—  soon  memorialized  Congress  for  a  temporary  suspension  of 
the  ordinance.  The  convention  which  sent  this  memorial  was 
held  in  1802.  Its  presiding  officer  was  Governor  William 
Henry  Harrison,  afterward  President  of  the  United  States. 
The  memorial  was  referred  by  the  House  to  a  select  commit 
tee,  of  which  John  Randolph,  the  brilliant  but  erratic  Virgin 
ian,  was  chairman.  This  committee  reported  that  it  was 
"  highly  dangerous  and  inexpedient  to  impair  a  provision 
wisely  calculated  to  promote  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of 
the  Northern  country."  No  action  was  taken,  as  the  session 
terminated  the  following  day. 

In  the  next  Congress  the  subject  was  referred  to  a  commit 
tee  of  which  Caesar  Rodney  of  Delaware  —  afterward  Attor 
ney-General  of  the  United  States  —  was  made  chairman,  and 
it  reported  in  favor  of  a  suspension  of  the  antislavery  restric 
tion  for  a  limited  time.  Early  in  February,  1806,  James  M. 
Garnett  of  Virginia,  from  a  select  committee,  made  a  like 
report,  though,  as  in  the  previous  case,  no  action  was  taken. 
Another  committee  was  appointed  during  the  next  year,  of 
which  Mr.  Parke,  a  delegate  from  the  Territory,  was  chairman, 
to  which  was  referred  a  letter  from  Governor  Harrison,  with 


34          RISE   AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

resolves  from  the  Territorial  legislature,  favoring  a  temporary 
suspension  of  the  inhibition.  On  the  12th  of  February  this 
committee  reported  that  the  ordinance  be  suspended  for  ten 
years  from  the  1st  of  January,  1808.  Though  this  was  the 
third  report  proposing  a  temporary  suspension  of  the  ordinance 
of  1787,  Congress  took  no  action  upon  either. 

Governor  Harrison  and  the  legislature  again  united  in  a  like 
request,  though  at  this  time  a  portion  of  the  inhabitants 
remonstrated  against  granting  it.  The  subject  in  the  Senate 
was  referred  to  a  select  committee,  consisting  of  Franklin 
of  North  Carolina,  Kitchell  of  New  Jersey,  and  Tiffin  of 
Ohio.  On  the  13th  of  November,  1807,  this  committee  re 
ported  a  resolve,  declaring  it  not  expedient  to  suspend  the 
sixth  article  of  the  compact  for  the  government  of  the  terri 
tory  northwest  of  the  Ohio.  This  report  closed  the  efforts 
made  by  an  undoubted  majority  of  the  people  of  the  Territory 
to  be  at  least  temporarily  relieved  from  the  operation  of  this 
ordinance.  In  this  struggle  it  is  to  be  noted  that  they  had  the 
effective  support  and  hearty  co-operation  of  General  Harrison, 
their  governor,  whom  the  nation  with  so  much  enthusiasm 
bore  into  the  Presidential  chair  in  1840.  Had  their  wishes 
prevailed,  however,  and  those  imperial  States  been  lost  to  free 
dom,  who  can  estimate  the  increased  dangers  that  would  have 
imperilled  the  nation  and  darkened  its  pathway?  Who  can 
comprehend  the  aggravated  difficulties  which  would  have 
attended  the  then  future,  but  now  accomplished,  work  of 
emancipation  ?  There  is  little  danger  of  overestimating  the 
benefits  which  the  ordinance  of  1787  has  conferred  on  the 
Northwest,  or  the  measureless  perils  from  which  it  saved  the 
land.  Its  enactment  must  ever  stand  as  one  of  the  great 
events  of  American  history,  one  of  the  most  important  achieve 
ments  in  behalf  of  freedom. 

Virginia  having  retained  her  claim  to  the  Territory  of  Ken 
tucky,  into  which  many  of  her  citizens  had  taken  their  slaves, 
a  new  slave  State  was  early  carved  out  of  it  and  added  to  the 
Union.  North  Carolina,  too,  laid  claim  to  Western  territory, 
but  ceded  Tennessee,  in  1789,  upon  the  condition  that  "  no 
regulation  made  or  to  be  made  by  Congress  should  tend  to 


SLAVERY  IN   THE   TERRITORIES. —  ORDINANCE   OF  1787.         35 

the  emancipation  of  slaves."  This  deed  of  cession  was  laid 
before  the  Senate  in  the  winter  of  1790,  and  referred  to  a 
committee,  of  which  Oliver  Ellsworth,  afterward  Chief  Justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  was  chairman.  He  reported  a  bill 
accepting  the  cession,  and  providing  that  the  ordinance  for  the 
government  of  the  Northwest  Territory  should  be  applied  to 
this  cession,  excepting,  however,  the  clause  prohibiting  slav 
ery.  The  bill  passed  the  Senate  without  division  ;  was  briefly 
debated  in  the  House,  and  concurred  in  with  little  opposition. 
Slavery  had  already  entered  the  Territory  ;  and  Congress,  con 
senting  with  more  or  less  reluctance  to  the  hard  conditions 
imposed,  gave  assent  to  its  continuance. 

Georgia  claimed  the  territory  forming  subsequently  the 
States  of  Alabama  and  Mississippi.  She  did  not  promptly 
follow  the  example  of  her  sister  States  in  ceding  her  terri 
torial  claims  to  the  general  government ;  as  her  cession  was 
not  made  until  the  2d  of  April,  1802,  and  then  upon  the  per 
emptory  condition  that  the  ordinance  of  1787  "  shall,  in  all 
its  parts,  extend  to  the  territory  contained  in  the  present  ces 
sion,  the  article  only  excepted  which  forbids  slavery." 

Although  Georgia  had  not  previously  relinquished  her  claim 
to  the  Mississippi  territory,  still  settlements  had  been  made 
there,  and  the  duty  was  imposed  upon  Congress  of  legislating 
for  the  government  of  the  people  of  that  region.  In  March, 
1798,  the  House  of  Representatives  proceeded  to  the  consid 
eration  of  the  bill  for  the  government  of  that  Territory.  It 
expressly  provided  that  a  government  similar  in  all  respects  to 
that  of  the  Northwestern  Territory  should  be  established,  the 
inhibition  of  slavery  only  excepted.  Mr.  Thatcher  of  Massa 
chusetts  remarking  that  he  intended  to  make  a  motion  touch 
ing  the  rights  of  man,  moved  to  strike  out  the  excepting 
clause.  Mr.  Harper  of  South  Carolina  said  that  this  was  not 
a  legitimate  mode  of  supporting  the  rights  of  man.  The 
regulation  prohibiting  slavery  in  the  Northwest  was  proper; 
but  it  would  not  be  so  in  Mississippi.  It  would  be  a  decree 
of  the  banishment  of  all  persons  settled  there,  and  a  decree 
of  the  exclusion  of  all  persons  intending  to  go  there.  Mr. 
Varnum,  of  Massachusetts,  afterward  Speaker  of  the  House, 


36          RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN   AMERICA. 

declared  that  Mr.  Harper's  remarks  showed  that  he  did  not 
wish  to  support  the  rights  of  all  men  ;  for  "  where  there  was 
a  disposition  to  retain  a  part  of  our  species  in  slavery  there 
could  not  be  proper  respect  for  the  rights  of  mankind."  He 
looked  upon  the  practice  of  holding  blacks  in  slavery  in  this 
country  to  be  equally  criminal  with  the  practice  of  the  Alger- 
ines  in  carrying  American  citizens  into  slavery.  Mr.  Rut- 
ledge  wished  Mr.  Thatcher  to  withdraw  his  motion.  He 
remarked  that  one  gentleman  called  these  men  "  property  "  ; 
another  said,  "  you  hold  these  men  in  chains  "  ;  and  another 
declared,  "  you  violate  the  rights  of  man,"  and  wished  to 
know  if  these  men  were  not  property,  and  held  as  such  by  the 
Spanish  government. 

Mr.  Otis  of  Massachusetts  —  an  early  representative  of  that 
class  of  Northern  politicians  who  have  always  existed  in  suf 
ficient  numbers  to  betray  their  section  in  an  emergency,  and 
give  to  slavery  the  victory  —  expressed  the  hope  that  Mr. 
Thatcher  would  not  withdraw  his  amendment.  He  desired, 
he  said,  that  "  an  opportunity  might  be  given  to  gentlemen 
who  came  from  the  North  to  manifest  that  it  was  not  their 
disposition  to  interfere  with  the  South  in  regard  to  that  species 
of  property."  He  thought,  he  said,  —  and  thus  invited  the 
very  violence  he  seemed  to  deprecate,  —  that  if  the  amend 
ment  was  adopted  that  no  slavery  should  exist  in  the  territory 
it  would  be  not  only  a  sentence  of  banishment,  but  of  war  ; 
that  an  immediate  insurrection  would  take  place,  and  that  the 
inhabitants  would  not  be  suffered  to  retire,  but  would  be  mas 
sacred  on  the  spot. 

Mr.  Foster,  of  the  same  State,  thought  that  if  the  amend 
ment  was  not  withdrawn,  a  long  debate  might  be  had  upon  it. 
To  these  remarks  o*f  his  colleagues  Mr.  Thatcher  replied  that 
he  should  not  withdraw  his  motion.  Believing  his  course  to 
be  just,  the  more  it  was  opposed  the  more  obstinate  he  should 
be  in  its  support.  Mr.  Giles  of  Virginia  then  made  the  sug 
gestion,  often  repeated  since,  that  if  the  slaves  of  other  States 
were  permitted  to  go  to  the  Western  States,  and  thus  spread 
themselves  over  a  larger  territory,  there  would  be  a  greater 
prospect  of  ameliorating  their  condition.  Mr.  Hartley  of 


SLAVERY   IN   THE   TERRITORIES.  —  ORDINANCE   OF   1787.         37 

Pennsylvania  felt  compelled  to.  vote  against  the  amendment, 
although  he  desired  to  gratify  the  wishes  of  philanthropists 
by  doing  away  with  the  system  of  slavery  altogether. 

Mr.  Gallatin  of  Pennsylvania,  a  gentleman  of  great  learn 
ing  and  capacity,  who  afterward  rendered  signal  service  to  his 
country  as  a  financier  and  diplomatist,  maintained  that  the 
amendment  striking  out  the  provision  of  the  bill  which  allowed 
slavery  in  the  Territory,  could  not  be  rejected  for  want  of  juris 
diction.  He  confessed  he  could  not  see  how  forbidding  slavery 
in  Mississippi  could  affect  it  in  South  Carolina,  any  more  than 
forbidding  it  in  the  Northwest  Territory.  If  the  amendment 
was  rejected,  slavery  was  established  for  that  country,  not  only 
during  its  temporary  government,  but  during  all  the  time  it 
should  be  a  State.  The  number  of  slaves  would  become  so 
large,  by  constant  increase,  that  when  the  Territory  became  a 
State  the  slaveholders  would  be  able  to  secure  a  constitution 
recognizing  and  protecting  slavery,  and  thereby  making  it  per 
manent.  Having  determined  that  slavery  would  be  bad  policy 
for  the  Northwest  Territory,  he  saw  no  reason  for  a  contrary 
determination  in  respect  to  the  Mississippi  Territory. 

Mr.  Nicholas  of  Virginia  thought  that  the  rejection  of  the 
amendment  would  be  not  only  for  the  interest  of  the  Territory, 
but  of  the  United  States.  But  Mr.  Thatcher  firmly  declared 
that  he  could  never  be  brought  to  believe  that  an  individual 
could  have  a  right  in  anything  that  tended  to  the  destruction 
of  the  government ;  that  he  could  have  a  right  in  any  wrong, 
as  "  property  in  slaves  was  founded  in  wrong,  and  never  could 
be  right."  Slavery  "  must  be  put  a  stop  to  ;  and  the  sooner  it 
was  begun  the  better."  The  amendment  was  lost,  only  twelve 
members  voting  for  it.  The  bill,  however,  was  amended,  on 
motion  of  Mr.  Harper,  so  as  to  prohibit  the  introduction  of 
slavery  into  the  Territory  from  beyond  the  limits  of  the  United 
States. 

In  this,  the  first  debate  in  Congress  on  the  question  of  per 
mitting  or  excluding  slavery  in  the  Territories,  members  emi 
nent  as  jurists  and  statesmen  participated.  Although  they 
entertained  different  views  of  its  expediency,  none  of  them 
questioned  or  doubted  its  constitutionality.  The  power  of  Con- 


38          RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN   AMERICA. 

gress  to  prohibit  slavery  in  the  Territories  was  then  conceded 
by  the  statesmen  of  the  South  as  well  as  by  the  statesmen  of 
the  North.  The  dogma  of  "  no  power  in  Congress  to  prohibit 
slavery  in  the  Territories  "  had  not  then  been  invented. 

By  this  legislation  the  character  of  all  the  territory  of  the 
United  States  was  then  fixed.  Mr.  Jefferson's  proposition, 
made  in  1784,  would  have  prohibited  slavery  after  1800  in  all 
that  territory.  It  has  ever  been  a  source  of  profound  regret 
to  the  friends  of  freedom  that  his  proposition  failed.  In  the 
light  of  subsequent  events,  however,  it  is  not  at  all  clear  that 
more  would  have  been  gained  to  freedom  by  its  adoption  than 
was  secured  by  Mr.  Dane's  ordinance,  which  only  applied  to 
the  Territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio  River.  Had  slavery  been 
allowed  in  the  Northwest  Territory  till  the  year  1800,  a  more 
powerful  and  persistent  effort  —  and  perhaps  one  more  success 
ful  —  would  have  been  made  for  its  retention  than  was  actually 
made  by  the  emigrants  from  the  South  and  the  few  old  French 
settlers,  who,  in  spite  of  the  ordinance,  retained  some  in  ser 
vitude,  and  strove  to  legalize  the  system  temporarily,  and  make, 
if  possible,  Indiana  and  Illinois  slave  States. 

After  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  the  slaveholding  class, 
from  the  Potomac  to  the  Gulf,  rapidly  increased  in  wealth, 
social  influence,  and  political  power.  Emigrants  from  those 
States  settled  the  Territory  south  of  the  Ohio,  and  carried  to 
that  region  the  habits,  prejudices,  and  interests  of  their  section. 
They  might  have  taken  their  slaves  with  them,  made  slave 
laws  and  constitutions,  and  sought  admission  into  the  Union. 
Perhaps  the  ordinance  itself  might  have  been  temporarily,  par 
tially,  or  wholly  set  aside  by  the  slaveholding  class,  which  ob 
tained  control  of  the  Federal  government  at  the  beginning  of 
the  century,  and  held  it  for  two  generations.  While  Mr.  Jef 
ferson's  proviso  might  and  probably  would  have  failed  to  secure 
to  freedom  the  territory  south  of  the  Ohio,  it  might  have  im 
perilled  it  in  the  territory  northwest  of  that  river.  Mr.  Dane's 
ordinance  of  1787  probably  won  for  freedom  all  that  could  have 
been  securely  held,  and  will  ever  stand  as  one  of  the  grandest 
achievements  in  American  history. 


CHAPTER    IY. 

COMPROMISES    OF    THE    CONSTITUTION.  —  SLAVE    REPRESENTATION. 
—  SLAVE-TRADE.  —  RENDITION   OF   FUGITIVE   SLAVES. 

The  Failure  of  the  Confederation.  —  Distress  and  Discontent  of  the  People.  — 
Assembling  of  the  Convention  to  frame  a  Constitution.  —  Difficulties  and  Dan 
gers.  —  Antagonism  between  Freedom  and  Slavery.  —  Basis  of  Representation. 

—  Debates  thereon. — Northern  and   Southern   Parties   developed.  —  Slave- 
holding  Interest  successful.  —  Committee  of  Detail.  —  Duties  on  Exports .  — 
Regulation  of  Commerce.  —  Slave-trade.  — South  Carolina  and  Georgia  demand 
its  Continuance.  —  The  Bargain.  —  Slave  Representation.  —  Slave-trade  to  be 
continued  Twenty  Years.  —  Rendition  of  Fugitive  Slaves.  —  The  Compromise. 

—  The  Slave  Power  developed. 

WHEN  the  British  forces  had  been  withdrawn  from  the 
country,  the  American  army  disbanded,  and  then,  the  common 
danger  removed,  other  evils  revealed  themselves  and  other 
dangers  menaced.  The  people  were  deeply  embarrassed  by 
public  and  private  indebtedness,  by  a  depreciated  currency, 
and  by  the  general  derangement  of  business,  resulting  from 
an  exhausting  warfare  with  the  first  power  of  the  globe.  It 
became  almost  impossible  to  enforce  the  collection  of  debts  or 
to  maintain  public  order.  The  distress  and  discontent  of  the 
people  revealed  themselves  in  forcible  attempts  to  obstruct  the 
action  of  the  judicial  tribunals,  while  the  public  disorders 
threatened  anarchy  and  civil  war.  Then,  too,  the  Confedera 
tion,  which  had  so  signally  failed  to  command  fully  the  resour 
ces  of  the  country  during  the  war,  more  clearly  manifested  its 
weakness.  Then  the  statesmen  and  soldiers,  whose  wisdom 
and  valor  had  carried  the  country  through  the  Revolution, 
were  profoundly  concerned  at  the  grave  and  ominous  aspect  of 
national  affairs.  Under  this  pressure  of  difficulties  arid  dan 
gers,  which  threatened  to  defeat  and  destroy  much  of  what 
had  been  gained  and  won  by  the  blood  and  treasure,  the  hard- 


40          RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

ships  and  hazards  of  the  contest,  a  convention  was  called  to 
revise  the  Articles  of  Confederation  ;  and  it  gave  the  country 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

The  convention  assembled  at  Philadelphia  in  May,  1787. 
It  was  a  body  of  men  of  marked  ability  and  large  experience 
in  public  affairs.  It  embraced  many  of  the  Revolutionary 
leaders,  from  both  council-chamber  and  field,  while  among 
its  younger  members  were  several  who  at  once  took  rank 
among  the  foremost  public  men  of  the  new  Republic.  Nor  did 
their  abilities  exceed  their  necessities,  or  transcend  the  greatness 
of  the  occasion.  To  make  "  a  more  perfect  union  "  of  States 
so  widely  scattered  on  a  narrow  strip  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  so 
diverse  in  origin  and  history,  so  alien  in  spirit  and  purpose, 
so  jealous  of  their  own  interests  and  fearful  of  the  encroach 
ments  of  others,  impoverished  and  distressed  by  war,  might 
reasonably  be  expected  to  disclose  difficulties  of  the  gravest 
import.  In  forming  such  a  general  government,  of  States  so 
unequal  in  territory,  population,  and  wealth,  there  would  nat 
urally  exist  not  merely  the  general  rehictance  to  relinquish 
their  individual  prerogatives  as  independent  States,  but  also 
the  fear  of  the  larger  States,  that  in  the  government  their 
influence  would  not  be  commensurate  with  their  relative  size, 
while  the  smaller  States  would  hardly  be  satisfied  with  a  share 
graduated  by  any  such  standard.  Their  history  immediately 
preceding  the  assembling  of  the  convention  had  but  aggra 
vated  this  natural  tendency.  State  rights  had  been  vigilantly 
guarded,  and  State  power  reluctantly  relinquished  to  the  Con 
tinental  Congress,  even  under  the  pressing  exigencies  of  war. 
State  pride,  too,  was  intense  ;  State  rivalries  and  jealousies 
were  active.  Consequently,  the  more  thoughtful  members  of 
the  convention  apprehended  that  the  main  hindrances  in  the 
way  of  success  would  spring  from  such  sources,  —  indeed, 
that  the  great  difficulty  would  be  to  reconcile  the  differences 
between  the  larger  and  smaller  States.  The  result,  however, 
revealed  the  fact  that  all  these  difficulties  were,  if  not  lost, 
overshadowed  by  another  issue  far  more  serious  and  threaten 
ing.  The  real  obstacle  was  found  in  the  antagonism  between 
freedom  and  slavery,  between  the  States  which  had  accepted 


COMPROMISES   OF   THE   CONSTITUTION.  41 

and  were  accepting  the  former  and  the  States  which  clung 
with  such  persistent  determination  to  the  latter.  Indeed,  we 
have  the  statement  of  Mr.  Madison  himself  that  "  the  institu 
tion  of  slavery  and  its  consequences  furnished  the  line  of  dis 
crimination."  Nor,  in  the  lights  of  the  present  day  and  the 
revelations  of  the  nation's  subsequent  history,  is  this  at  all 
surprising. 

The  theory  of  human  equality  had  been  enunciated  by  the 
first  Continental  Congress,  and  proclaimed  in  the  deathless 
words  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  It  had  been  incor 
porated  into  the  Bills  of  Rights  of  several  of  the  States,  and 
had  been  illustrated  by  the  judicial  proceedings  of  several  of 
their  courts.  It  was  held  by  some  of  the  most  eminent  mem 
bers  of  the  convention,  and  also  by  other  leading  statesmen  of 
that  era.  But  there  came  into  this  convention  of  illustrious 
men,  assembled  to  frame  a  constitution  for  a  Christian  nation,  a 
powerful  minority  believing  in  and  representing  chattel  slavery. 
In  that  crisis  of  the  country,  —  when  its  very  existence  was 
in  peril,  and  the  only  alternative  seemed  to  be  a  constitution 
or  anarchy,  —  that  minority  made  it  a  condition  precedent  to 
their  assent  that  the  convention  should  comply  with  the 
exactions  of  the  slaveholding  interest.  The  representatives 
of  that  interest,  —  able,  arbitrary,  and  adroit,  —  taking  ad 
vantage  of  the  necessities  of  the  country,  wrung  from  the 
convention  fatal  concessions,  which  then  and  thereafter 
trammelled  the  hand  of  Liberty  and  armed  the  hand  of 
Slavery. 

The  framers  of  the  Constitution  have  been  sharply  criticised 
for  their  concessions  to  the  slaveholding  interest.  These  con 
cessions,  in  direct  antagonism  with  the  doctrines  of  human 
rights  so  grandly  proclaimed  in  the  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence,  greatly  embarrassed  them  then,  and  have  been  used  with 
fatal  force  by  the  Slave  Power  in  its  dominating  and  aggres 
sive  career  since.  But  posterity,  remembering  the  fearful  stress 
of  circumstances  under  which  those  concessions  were  made, 
and  recalling  the  significant  question  of  Alexander  Hamilton, 
"Is  it  possible  to  deliberate  between  anarchy  and  confusion 
on  one  side,  and  the  chance  of  good  on  the  other  ?  "  will  min- 


42          RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

gle  large  charity  with  its  censure.  Whatever  may  be  the 
judgments  of  coming  generations,  removed  from  the  disturb 
ing  and  distorting  influences  of  the  past  and  present  hour,  arid 
occupying  a  higher  plane  of  thought  and  feeling,  concerning 
the  framers  of  the  Constitution  and  their  concessions  to  the 
Slave  Power  under  the  terrible  pressure  to  which  they  were 
subjected,  it  does  not  become  the  men  of  later  times,  who  have 
made  compromise  after  compromise,  far  greater  sacrifices  of 
principle,  and  far  more  guilty  concessions,  with  but  a  tithe  of 
that  pressure  resting  upon  them,  to  reproach  them.  Whoever 
else  may  be,  they  are  not  the  men  to  cast  stones. 

There  was  a  great  struggle  in  the  convention  touching  the 
basis  of  representation  in  Congress,  in  which  the  question 
of  slavery  largely  mingled.  It  originated  in  the  strife  be 
tween  the  larger  and  smaller  States,  the  latter  contending  for 
an  equal  and  the  former  for  a  proportional  representation.  The 
Virginia  plan  proposed  to  base  the  representation  on  free  inhab 
itants  and  three  fifths  of  all  other  persons.  Twice  the  conven 
tion  voted  in  favor  of  a  proportional  representation.  Having 
failed  to  secure  an  equal  representation  in  the  House,  the  party 
representing  the  smaller  States  made  a  strenuous  effort  to 
secure  an  equality  of  representation  in  the  Senate  ;  but  the 
proposition  was  defeated  by  a  tie  vote.  The  State-rights  mem 
bers,  being  defeated,  manifested  much  dissatisfaction. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Sherman  of  Connecticut,  a  committee  of 
conference  of  one  from  each  State  was  appointed.  In  this 
committee  Franklin  proposed  that  the  States  should  be  equally 
represented  in  the  Senate  ;  while  for  the  House  the  Virginia 
proposition  should  be  adopted,  allowing  one  representative  for 
forty  thousand  inhabitants,  slaves  being  counted  in  the  ratio 
of  three  fifths. 

It  having  been  determined  that  the  States  should  not  be 
equally  represented  in  the  House,  new  questions  arose,  and 
new  divisions  and  parties  were  developed.  A  committee,  con 
sisting  of  Morris,  Gorham,  King,  Randolph,  and  Rutledge,  re 
ported  a  proposition  that  future  representation  should  be  dis 
tributed  among  the  States  in  a  compound  proportion  of  wealth 
and  numbers.  This  report  was  referred  to  a  committee  of  one 


SLAVE   REPRESENTATION.  43 

from  each  State ;  and  this  committee  reported  the  temporary 
apportionment  finally  introduced  into  the  Constitution,  with  a 
House  of  sixty-five  members.  Future  apportionments,  how 
ever,  could  not  be  easily  determined. 

Mr.  Patterson  of  New  Jersey,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  party 
of  State  Rights,  opposed  the  representation  of  slaves,  because 
it  afforded  an  "  indirect  encouragement  of  the  slave-trade." 
He  said  that  Congress,  in  its  acts  concerning  the  quota  of  troops, 
was  ashamed  to  use  the  word  "  slave,"  and  substituted  a  descrip 
tion.  He  could  look  upon  slaves  in  no  other  light  than  as  prop 
erty,  and  strenuously  opposed  their  representation.  In  reply, 
Mr.  Madison  admitted  the  soundness  of  the  general  principle, 
but  thought  it  should  forever  silence  the  claims  of  the  small 
States ;  and  he  suggested  that  the  House  should  be  based  on 
the  whole  number  of  free  inhabitants,  and  the  Senate,  which 
represented  property,  on  the  whole  number,  including  slaves. 

Mr.  King  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  Southern  States, 
being  the  richest,  would  not  league  themselves  with  the  North 
ern  unless  some  attention  was  paid  to  their  wealth.  It  was 
proposed  by  Mr.  Eandolph  that  the  future  apportionments 
should  be  regulated  by  a  periodical  census.  It  was  then 
moved,  as  a  substitute,  by  Mr.  Williamson  of  North  Carolina, 
to  reckon  in  the  census  the  freemen,  and  three  fifths  of  all 
other  persons.  It  was  strenuously  insisted  by  Pierce  Butler 
and  Charles  C.  Pinckney,  of  South  Carolina,  that  slaves  should 
be  counted  like  all  other  persons.  Mr.  Williamson's  proposi 
tion  was  supported  by  Mr.  Gorham  and  Mr.  Gerry,  of  Massa 
chusetts.  It  was  insisted  by  Mr.  Butler  that  the  labor  of  a 
slave  in  South  Carolina  is  as  productive  as  that  of  a  freeman 
in  Massachusetts  ;  that  slaves  are  as  valuable  to  the  nation 
as  freemen,  and  that  an  equal  representation  ought  to  be 
allowed. 

Mr.  Mason  of  Virginia  thought  slaves  ought  not  to  be  ex 
cluded  in  the  basis  of  representation ;  but  that  they  were  not 
equal  to  freemen.  The  three-fifths  clause  was  stoutly  opposed 
by  Mr.  Morris,  as  "an  encouragement  to  the  slave-trade,  an 
injustice  to  human  nature."  Mr.  Wilson  of  Pennsylvania  was 
apprehensive  that  the  people  of  his  State  would  be  disgusted 


44         RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

V 

by  this  "  blending  of  blacks  and  whites."  He  thought,  if  slaves 
were  admitted  as  citizens,  they  should  be  admitted  on  an  equal 
ity  with  other  citizens ;  but  if  as  property,  then,  he  asked,  why 
not  admit  them  as  other  property  ?  Mr.  Butler's  amendment 
to  count  slaves  equally  with  free  persons  was  lost,  —  Delaware, 
South  Carolina,  and  Georgia  only  voting  for  it.  Mr.  William 
son's  substitute,  basing  the  House  on  a  periodical  census  of  the 
inhabitants,  slaves  being  counted  in  the  ratio  of  three  fifths, 
was  defeated, —  Massachusetts,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Mary 
land,  and  South  Carolina  voting  against  it.  South  Carolina 
voted  against  it  because  she  demanded  an  equal  representation 
for  slaves.  The  proposition  of  Mr.  Randolph  for  a  periodical 
census  was  also  defeated.  It  was  then  unanimously  agreed, 
on  motion  of  Mr.  Morris,  that  taxation  should  be  in  proportion 
to  representation. 

Up  to  this  point,  though  the  struggle  had  been  sharp,  slavery 
had  rather  lost  than  gained.  The  three  propositions  —  to  count 
the  slaves  according  to  their  numbers,  to  count  them  in  the  ratio 
of  three  fifths,  and  to  have  a  periodical  census  taken  —  had 
been  lost.  The  proposition  now  before  the  convention  was  to 
base  all  future  apportionments  upon  the  compound  ratio  of 
wealth  and  numbers.  As  parliamentary  eloquence  and  tactics 
had  not  succeeded,  something  more  stringent  was  demanded. 
The  soft  words  of  persuasion  had  failed ;  the  virtue  of  stones 
must  be  tried.  The  ever-present  and  ever-potent  argument  of 
the  plantation  —  the  whip  —  must  be  put  in  requisition.  Nor 
did  it  fail.  The  recusant  members  were  at  once  brought  to 
terms,  and  the  fatal  lesson  was  taught  and  learned  which  was 
not  forgotten  for  nearly  three  quarters  of  a  century. 

General  Davie  of  North  Carolina,  who  had  been  a  silent 
member  to  that  time,  arose  and  emphatically  declared,  "  It  is 
time  to  speak  out.  I  see,"  he  said,  "  that  it  is  meant  by 
some  gentlemen  to  deprive  the  Southern  States  of  any  repre 
sentation  of  their  blacks.  I  am  sure  that  North  Carolina  will 
never  confederate  on  any  terms  that  do  not  rate  them  at  least  as 
three  fifths.  If  the  Eastern  States  mean  to  exclude  them  alto 
gether,  then  the  business  is  at  an  end."  The  menace  was 
effective,  and  secured  at  once  what  no  amount  of  debate  ha<7 


SLAVE  KEPRESENTATION.  45 

accomplished.  Mr.  Johnson  of  Connecticut  at  once  arose 
and  hastened  to  declare  that  the  whole  population  should  be 
counted.  Mr.  Randolph  renewed  the  proposition  to  count 
slaves  as  three  fifths  in  the  basis  of  representation.  The  prop 
osition  was  now  carried,  —  Connecticut,  Pennsylvania,  Mary 
land,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and  Georgia  voting  for  it ;  New 
Jersey  and  Delaware  opposing  it ;  while  Massachusetts  and 
South  Carolina  divided.  By  this  vote  it  was  provided  that  the 
half  a  million  slaves  in  the  five  Southern  States,  and  their  in 
crease  in  coming  years,  should  be  counted  in  the  basis  of  rep 
resentation  in  the  House,  and  in  the  Electoral  College,  in  the 
ratio  of  three  fifths. 

Thus,  by  this  most  illogical  measure,  by  which  votes  were 
given,  in  effect,  to  a  portion  of  the  community  from  which  not 
only  the  right  of  citizenship,  but  all  rights,  were  studiously 
withheld,  —  and  these  votes  not  to  be  cast  by  themselves,  and 
for  their  benefit,  but  by  their  masters,  for  their  injury,  —  large 
power  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  slaveholding  class,  which 
was  long  used  with  terrible  effect  for  its  aggrandizement  and 
the  nation's  harm.  In  many  of  the  sharply  contested  and 
evenly  balanced  struggles  between  the  friends  and  foes  of  free 
dom  it  gave  the  latter  the  needed  majority  and  turned  the 
scale  against  the  cause  of  justice.  In  the  great  struggle  of 
1820,  to  make  Missouri  free,  it  gave  to  slavery  its  victory  ;  and 
in  that  of  1854,  to  remove  the  landmarks  of  freedom,  its 
power  for  evil  was  equally  decisive.  In  1800  it  decided  the 
presidential  election,  and  gave  it  to  the  slaveholding  Democ 
racy,  and  thus  enthroned  the  Slave  Power  in  the  General 
Government,  from  which  it  was  never  dislodged  until  the  elec 
tion  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 

On  the  24th  of  July  a  Committee  of  Detail  was  appointed, 
consisting  of  Rutledge,  Randolph,  Gorham,  Ellsworth,  and 
Wilson.  To  this  committee  was  referred  the  work  of  the  con 
vention,  embodied  in  twenty-three  resolutions,  and  the  proposi 
tions  offered  by  Mr.  Charles  Pinckney  of  South  Carolina,  and 
also  of  Mr.  Patterson  of  New  Jersey.  Mr.  Charles  C.  Pinck 
ney,  one  of  the  most  eminent  men  of  that  age,  the  very  em 
bodiment  and  exponent  of  the  rising  Slave  Power,  perhaps 


46          RISE  AND   FALL  OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN   AMERICA. 

emboldened  by  the  success  of  the  member  from  North  Caro 
lina,  rose  and  pronounced  another  ultimatum  of  Southern  de 
mands.  He  reminded  the  convention  that  if  it  did  not  provide 
proper  security  for  Southern  interests  he  should  vote  against 
whatever  report  the  committee  should  bring  in.  In  other 
words,  it  was  a  notice  to  the  convention  that  the  South  would 
demand  not  only  an  enumeration  of  slaves  in  the  basis  of 
representation,  but  the  right  to  continue  their  importation 
without  taxation,  and  such  other  guaranties  as  the  exigencies 
of  their  peculiar  institution  demanded. 

On  the  6th  of  August  the  Committee  of  Detail  brought  in 
its  report.  It  was  in  substance  a  sketch  of  the  Constitution 
as  finally  adopted.  It  provided  that  no  duty  should  be  laid 
on  exports,  and  that  no  navigation  acts  should  be  passed 
except  by  a  two-thirds  vote.  The  importation  of  slaves  was 
not  to  be  prohibited  ;  neither  was  any  tax  to  be  imposed  upon 
such  importation.  Those  provisions  were  wholly  in  the  inter 
est  of  the  slaveholders.  The  exports  of  rice,  tobacco,  and 
indigo  —  products  of  slave  labor  —  were  not  to  be  taxed. 
Slaves  were  to  be  imported  untaxed  and  without  hindrance 
from  the  Federal  government.  Foreign  vessels  were  to 
enter  Southern  ports  and  carry  Southern  products  unembar 
rassed  by  any  discriminating  duties  in  favor  of  Northern 
shipping. 

The  avarice,  the  ambition,  and  the  sagacity  of  the  slave- 
holding  interest  have  never  been  more  clearly  revealed  than  in 
this  report  of  the  Committee  of  Detail.  At  its  head  stood 
John  Rutledge,  who  completely  embodied  the  pride,  arrogance, 
and  dominating  characteristics  of  the  extreme  South,  and  who 
needed  no  hint  from  his  colleague  to  watch  over  and  guard  its 
interests.  Had  the  subtle  and  adroit  policy  of  that  report 
been  fully  indorsed  and  adopted  by  the  convention  and  the 
people,  the  ascendency  of  the  slave  States,  and  the  consequent 
humiliation  and  helplessness  of  the  free  States,  would  have 
been  complete. 

The  first  Continental  Congress,  in  the  Articles  of  Associa 
tion,  had  pledged  the  united  colonies  against  the  importation 
of  slaves  ;  and  the  Congress  of  1776,  in  releasing  the  colonies 


THE   SLAVE-TRADE.  47 

From  some  of  the  provisions  of  the  Articles  of  Association,  had 
resolved  that  "  no  slave  be  imported  into  any  of  the  United 
States."  Most  of  the  States  had  united  in  prohibiting  the 
slave-trade.  North  Carolina  had  imposed  a  duty  on  importa 
tions  ;  while  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  were  in  favor,  not 
only  of  perpetuating  slavery,  but  also  of  continuing  the  slave- 
traffic.  Some  Northern  merchants,  forgetful  of  the  pledges  of 
the  government,  still  employed  their  ships  in  the  hateful  trade. 
Two  years  before  the  assembling  of  the  convention,  Dr.  Sam 
uel  Hopkins  had  stated  that  portions  of  the  people  were  "  go 
ing  into  the  practice  of  that  sevenfold  abomination,  the  slave- 
trade."  While  Maryland  and  Virginia  agreed  with  the  slave 
holders  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  against  taxing  exports, 
the  products  of  slave  labor,  and  were  opposed  to  navigation 
laws  for  the  encouragement  of  the  shipping  interest,  they 
were  opposed  —  it  is  hardly  uncharitable  to  believe,  for  the 
twofold  reason  that  they  did  not  need  foreign  slaves,  and 
were  themselves  engaged  in  the  domestic  slave-traffic  —  to 
the  reopening  and  continuance  of  the  African  slave-trade. 
Consequently  the  slaveholding  class  was  not  a  unit  in  support 
ing  the  report  of  the  Committee  of  Detail. 

That  report,  dictated  by  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia,  deeply 
aroused  the  feelings  of  delegates  from  the  free  States.  Mr. 
King  of  Massachusetts  took  the  earliest  opportunity  to  de 
nounce  "  the  admission  of  slaves  "  into  the  basis  of  apportion 
ment.  He  stated  that  by  the  report  of  the  committee  "  the 
importation  of  slaves  could  not  be  prohibited,  and  exports 
could  not  be  taxed  "  ;  that  "  there  was  so  much  inequality 
and  unreasonableness  in  all  this  that  the  people  of  the  North 
could  never  be  reconciled  to  it.  He  never  could  agree  to  let 
slaves  be  imported  without  limitation,  and  then  be  represented 
in  the  national  legislature.  Either  slaves  should  not  be  repre 
sented,  or  exports  should  be  taxable." 

Gouverneur  Morris  followed  in  an  eloquent  denunciation  of 
slavery,  emphatically  declaring  that  "  it  was  a  nefarious  insti 
tution  ;  it  was  the  curse  of  Heaven  on  the  States  where  it  pre 
vailed."  "  Upon  what  principle  is  it,"  he  asked,  "  that  the 
slaves  shall  be  computed  in  the  representation  ?  Are  they 


48         RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

men  ?  Then  make  them  citizens,  and  let  them  vote.  Are 
they  property  ?  Why,  then,  is  no  other  property  included  ? 
The  houses  in  this  city  are  worth  more  than  all  the  wretched 
slaves  that  cover  the  rice-swamps  of  South  Carolina."  He 
declared  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  South,  who  went  to  the 
coast  of  Africa,  and,  in  defiance  of  the  sacred  laws  of  human 
ity,  tore  away  their  fellow-creatures,  and  damned  them  to  the 
most  cruel  bondage,  had  more  power  than  the  citizens  of  the 
North,  who  viewed  with  horror  a  practice  so  nefarious.  He 
added  "  that  domestic  slavery  is  the  most  prominent  feature 
in  the  aristocratic  countenance  of  the  proposed  Constitution. 
The  vassalage  of  the  poor  has  ever  been  the  favorite  offspring 
of  the  aristocracy.  And  what  is  the  proposed  compensation 
to  the  Northern  States  for  a  sacrifice  of  every  principle  of 
right,  every  impulse  of  humanity  ?  They  are  to  bind  them 
selves  to  march  their  militia,  for  the  defence  of  the  Southern 
States,  against  those  very  slaves.  The  Southern  States  are 
not  to  be  restrained  from  importing  fresh  supplies  of  wretched 
Africans  at  once  to  increase  the  danger  of  attack  and  the  dif 
ficulty  of  defence  ;  nay,  they  are  to  be  encouraged  to  it  by 
having  their  votes  .in  the  national  government  increased  in 
proportion,  and  at  the  same  time  to  have  their  slaves  and 
exports  exempt  from  all  contributions  to  the  public  service." 
He  then  emphatically  avowed  that  he  would  "  sooner  submit 
himself  to  a  tax  for  paying  for  all  the  slaves  in  the  United 
States  than  to  saddle  posterity  with  such  a  constitution."  He 
closed  his  speech  by  moving  to  confine  the  basis  of  representa 
tion  to  free  inhabitants. 

Roger  Sherman  opposed  the  motion ;  and,  in  doing  it,  made 
the  very  extraordinary  declaration,  for  a  New  England  man, 
that  he  "  did  not  regard  the  admission  of  negroes  as  liable  to 
such  insuperable  objections."  Charles  Pinckney,  in  reply  to 
Mr.  Morris,  asserted  that  he  could  demonstrate  that  the  fisher 
ies  and  the  Western  frontiers  were  more  burdensome  than  the 
slaves.  Mr.  Morris's  motion  was  rejected,  New  Jersey  alone 
voting  for  it. 

When  the  clause  came  up  forbidding  any  restrictions  on  the 
importation  of  slaves,  Luther  Martin  of  Maryland  moved  an 


THE   SLAVE-TRADE.  49 

amendment,  allowing  such  importation  to  be  taxed.  He  stated 
that,  as  five  slaves  were  equal  to  three  freemen,  the  permission 
to  import  them  was  an  encouragement  of  the  slave-trade. 
"  Slaves,"  he  said,  "  weakened  the  Union  which  other  parts 
are  bound  to  protect.  The  privilege  of  importing  them  is, 
therefore,  unreasonable.  Such  a  feature  in  the  Constitution  is 
inconsistent  with  the  principles  of  the  Revolution,  and  dishon 
orable  to  the  American  character." 

Mr.  Rutledge,  chairman  of  the  committee,  declared  that  he 
"  did  not  see  how  this  section  would  encourage  the  importation 
of  slaves."  In  reply  to  the  assertion  that  the  Union  was  to 
protect  the  slaves,  he  said  that  he  would  "  readily  exempt  the 
other  States  from  every  obligation  to  protect  the  South."  He 
averred  that  "  religion  and  humanity  have  nothing  to  do  with 
this  question.  Interest  alone  is  the  governing  principle  with 
nations.  The  true  question  is,  whether  the  Southern  States 
shall  or  shall  not  be  parties  to  the  Union."  Thus  the  issue 
was  distinctly  made  by  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  De 
tail,  that  the  Southern  States  would  enter  the  Union  only  on 
the  condition  that  the  African  slave-trade  should  be  continued. 
Appealing  to  commercial  cupidity,  he  said  that,  if  the  North 
ern  States  consulted  their  own  interest,  they  would  not  oppose 
the  increase  of  slaves,  because  it  would  increase  the  commodi 
ties  of  which  they  would  become  the  carriers.  Nor  was  the 
appeal  without  effect. 

Mr.  Ellsworth,  a  member  of  the  committee,  immediately 
avowed  himself  in  favor  of  the  provision  as  it  stood.  "  Let 
every  State,"  he  said,  "  import  what  it  pleases.  The  morality 
or  wisdom  of  slavery  are  considerations  belonging  to  the  States. 
What  enriches  a  part  enriches  the  whole,  and  the  States  are 
the  best  judges  of  their  particular  interests.  The  old  confed 
eration  had  not  meddled  with  this  point ;  and  he  did  not  see 
any  greater  necessity  for  bringing  it  into  the  policy  of  the  new 
one." 

Charles  Pinckney,  speaking  for  the  slaveholding  class,  em 
phatically  asserted  :  "  South  Carolina  can  never  receive  the 
plan,  if  it  prohibits  the  slave-trade.  In  every  proposed  exten 
sion  of  the  powers  of  Congress,  that  State  has  expressly  and 
7 


50          RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

watchfully  excepted  the  power  of  meddling  with  the  importa 
tion  of  negroes." 

George  Mason  of  Virginia  strongly  denounced  the  slave- 
trade,  laying  the  blame  of  it  on  the  avarice  of  British  mer 
chants,  and  lamenting  that  his  Eastern  brothers  had  from 
the  lust  of  gain  embarked  in  the  traffic.  "  Slavery,"  he  said, 
"  discourages  arts  and  manufactures.  The  poor  despise  labor 
when  performed  by  slaves.  It  prevents  the  emigration  of 
whites,  who  really  enrich  and  strengthen  the  country.  It  pro 
duces  the  most  pernicious  effects  on  manners,  —  every  master 
of  slaves  is  born  a  petty  tyrant.  It  brings  the  judgment  of 
Heaven  on  a  country.  By  an  inevitable  chain  of  causes  and 
eifects,  Providence  punishes  national  sins  by  national  calami 
ties."  He  then  avowed  that  he  held  it  essential  in  every  point 
of  view  that  the  general  government  should  have  power  to 
prevent  the  increase  of  slavery. 

Mr.  Ellsworth  thought  that,  if  the  question  was  to  be  viewed 
in  a  moral  light,  the  convention  should  go  further,  and  free 
those  already  in  the  country.  In  Maryland  and  Virginia  it 
was  cheaper  to  raise  than  to  import ;  but  in  the  sickly  rice- 
swamps,  he  coldly  said,  foreign  importation  was  necessary,  and 
it  would  be  unjust  to  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  to  prohibit 
their  importation.  "  Let  us  not,"  he  said,  "  intermeddle.  As 
population  increases,  poor  laborers  will  be  so  plenty  as  to  ren 
der  slaves  useless.  Slavery  in  time  will  not  be  a  speck  in  our 
country." 

Mr.  Sherman  joined  Mr.  Ellsworth  in  allowing  the  clause  as 
reported  by  the  committee  to  stand.  Charles  C.  Pinckney 
avowed  that  "  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  cannot  do  without 
slaves.  As  to  Virginia,  she  will  gain  by  stopping  importation. 
Her  slaves  will  rise  in  value,  and  she  has  more  than  she  wants. 
It  would  be  unfair  to  ask  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  to  confed 
erate  on  such  unequal  terms."  The  importation  of  slaves,  he 
maintained,  would  be  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  Union.  The 
more  slaves,  the  more  produce  ;  the  greater  carrying  trade,  the 
more  consumption,  the  more  revenue.  The  delegation  from 
South  Carolina  united  in  the  emphatic  declaration  that,  if  the 
slave-trade  was  prohibited,  South  Carolina  would  not  come  into 


THE   SLAVE-TRADE.  51 

the  Union.  Mr.  Baldwin  of  Georgia,  too,  avowed  that  his 
State  would  not  confederate  unless  she  were  allowed  to  import 
slaves  ;  and  Mr.  Williamson  joined  in  expressing  the  opinion 
that,  if  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  were  not  allowed  to  import 
slaves,  they  would  not  become  members  of  the  Union.  Mr. 
Wilson  of  Pennsylvania  suggested  that,  "  if  negroes  were  the 
only  imports  not  subject  to  a  duty,  such  an  exception  would 
amount  to  a  bounty."  Gerry  of  Massachusetts  and  Lang- 
don  of  New  Hampshire  would  give  no  sanction  whatever  to 
the  slave-trade. 

Mr.  King  thought  the  exemption  of  slaves  from  duty,  while 
every  other  import  was  subject  to  it,  was  an  inequality  that 
could  not  fail  to  strike  the  commercial  sagacity  of  the  Northern 
and  Middle  States.  Mr.  Charles  Pinckney  hastened  to  move 
a  recommitment,  with  a  view  to  a  tax  on  slaves  equal  to  a  tax 
imposed  on  other  imports.  His  motion  was  seconded  by  Mr. 
Rutledge,  his  colleague.  It  was  proposed  by  Gouverneur  Mor 
ris  that  the  clauses  relating  to  navigation  laws  and  taxation  on 
exports  should  be  referred,  making  the  significant  and  preg 
nant  suggestion  that  "  these  things  may  form  a  bargain  be 
tween  the  Northern  and  Southern  States."  The  commitment 
was  supported  by  Mr.  Randolph,  who  avowed  that  he  would 
rather  risk  the  Constitution  than  support  the  clause  as  it  stood. 
Mr.  Sherman  said  that  a  tax  on  slaves  implied  that  they  were 
property ;  and  Mr.  Ellsworth  continued  'to  support  the  article 
as  reported  by  the  committee.  The  motion  to  commit  pre 
vailed,  and  the  matter  was  referred  to  a  committee  of  one  from 
each  State.  This  committee  made  "  a  bargain,"  and  reported 
it.  The  prohibition  of  export  duties  was  retained,  the  restric 
tion  of  the  enactment  of  navigation  laws  was  stricken  out,  and 
the  slave-trade  permitted  till  1800,  subject  to  the  imposition  of 
such  a  duty  on  slaves  as  Congress  might  determine. 

This  report  was  supported  by  Mr.  Williamson  and  Mr.  Gor- 
ham ;  but  the  tax  was  objected  to  by  Mr.  Sherman,  because  it 
implied  that  slaves  were  property,  and  because  the  tax  was  too 
small  to  discourage  importation.  But  Mr.  Gorham  replied  that 
the  tax  should  be  regarded,  not  as  implying  that  men  were 
property,  but  as  a  discouragement  to  their  importation.  Mr. 


52          RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

Madison  "  thought  it  wrong  to  admit  into  the  Constitution  the 
idea  that  there  could  be  property  in  man,"  and  a  change  was 
therefore  made  in  the  phraseology  to  remove  that  objection. 

Mr.  Charles  C.  Pinckney  moved  to  extend  the  time  of  the 
slave-trade  from  1800  to  1808.  This  motion  was  seconded  by 
Mr.  Gorham  of  Massachusetts,  and  was  carried  by  the  votes 
of  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  Georgia,  and 
South  Carolina ;  against  the  votes  of  New  Jersey,  Pennsyl 
vania,  Delaware,  and  Virginia.  The  restriction  on  the  enact 
ment  of  navigation  laws  was  then  stricken  out ;  and  Charles 
C.  Pinckney,  Mr.  Butler,  and  Mr.  Rutledge  gave  the  vote  of 
South  Carolina  in  favor  of  striking  out  the  restrictions,  be 
cause  of  the  liberal  conduct  of  the  Eastern  States  in  giving 
them  twenty  years  of  extension  to  the  slave-trade. 

Thus  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  and  Connecticut  stand 
on  the  record  as  parties  to  a  dishonorable  and  humiliating 
"  bargain,"  by  which,  for  a  mere  commercial  consideration, — 
the  removal  of  all  restriction  on  Congress  to  enact  navigation 
laws,  —  they  gave  twenty  years  to  the  African  slave-traffic,  unre 
strained  by  national  legislation.  Opposition  to  giving  Con 
gress  power  to  encourage,  develop,  and  protect  the  commercial 
and  navigating  interest  of  the  nation  sprung  from  the  narrow 
ness,  jealousy,  and  all-pervading  selfishness  of  slaveholding 
society.  Statesmanship  demanded  that  such  restrictions  should 
be  excluded  from  the  organic  law  of  a  free  and  commercial 
nation.  Duty  to  their  own  section,  to  their  whole  country, 
required  that  the  delegates  from  New  England  should  resist 
the  incorporation  of  that  plantation  policy  into  the  Constitution 
they  were  framing  for  a  continental  empire.  But  it  will  ever 
be  a  matter  of  regret,  as  well  as  of  reproach,  that  those  New 
England  States  achieved  their  success  by  a  surrender  of  prin 
ciples  in  accord  alike  with  the  dictates  of  humanity  and  the 
divine  precepts  of  the  Christian  religion.  And,  as  men  cor 
rectly  apprehend  the  true  nature  of  that  "  bargain,"  the  real 
significance  and  true  value  of  Mr.  Pinckney's  damaging  words 
of  praise  will  be  appreciated,  when  he  declared  that  "  he  had 
had  prejudices  against  the  Eastern  States  before  he  came 
here  ;  but  he  would  acknowledge  that  he  had  found  them  as 


RENDITION   OF   FUGITIVE   SLAVES.  53 

liberal  and  candid  as  any  men  whatever."  Nor  will  the  record 
seem  any  more  flattering  because  other  extreme  Southern  men 
joined  in  that  commendation. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  when  the  Committee  of  Detail 
was  appointed,  to  which  were  referred  the  results  then  reached 
by  the  convention,  Charles  C.  Pinckney  rose  and  reminded  the 
body  that,  if  the  committee  failed  to  insert  some  provision 
against  the  abolition  of  slavery,  he  should  be  bound  by  the  duty 
he  owed  South  Carolina  to  vote  against  its  report.  At  that 
time  slavery  had  disappeared,  or  was  disappearing,  in  the  seven 
Northern  States,  where  it  never  had  to  any  great  extent  ex 
isted  ;  but  there  were  more  than  half  a  million  of  slaves  in 
Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and 
Georgia.  While  many  of  the  most  eminent  men  of  those 
States,  especially  of  Virginia,  believed  slavery  to  be  in  every 
form  an  evil,  and  desired  the  inauguration  of  a  system  of 
emancipation  ;  the  body  of  the  people,  influenced  by  pecuni 
ary  interests,  and  the  pride,  passion,  and  prejudices  of  race, 
were  in  favor  of  its  continuance.  Statesmen,  quick  to  discover 
the  drift  of  public  sentiment,  were  then  beginning  to  look  to 
the  slaveholding  interest  as  an  element  of  political  power.  In 
the  work  of  obtaining  securities  for  slavery  the  able  statesmen 
South  Carolina  sent  to  the  convention  took  the  lead.  She 
could  enter  no  union,  they  said,  accept  no  constitution,  unless 
slaves  should  enter  into  the  basis  of  representation,  the  slave- 
trade  be  continued,  and  provision  be  made  for  the  rendition 
of  slaves  escaping  from  their  masters. 

But  the  Committee  of  Detail  reported  no  provision  for  the 
rendition  of  fugitive  slaves.  When  the  article  came  under 
consideration  providing  that  the  citizens  of  each  State  should 
be  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  the  citizens 
of  the  several  States,  Mr.  Pinckney  again  demanded  a  provision 
"  in  favor  of  property  in  slaves."  The  article,  however,  was 
adopted  without  any  such  clause. 

When  the  article  respecting  fugitives  from  justice  escaping 
from  one  State  into  another  came  up  for  consideration,  Mr. 
Butler,  on  behalf  of  South  Carolina,  moved  to  require  "  fugi 
tive  slaves  and  servants  to  be  delivered  up  like  criminala." 


54         RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

This  amendment  was  objected  to  by  Mr.  Wilson,  for  the  incon 
sequential  reason  that  it  would  require  the  delivery  to  be  made 
at  the  public  expense  ;  while  Mr.  Sherman  remarked,  with 
little  more  appreciation  of  the  magnitude  of  the  question 
involved,  that  he  saw  "  no  more  propriety  in  the  public  seizing 
and  surrendering  a  servant  than  a  horse."  Mr.  Butler  then 
withdrew  his  amendment,  for  the  purpose  of  putting  it  in  a 
new  form.  But  the  next  day,  the  29th  of  August,  he  intro 
duced  it,  and  it  was  agreed  to  without  a  division. 

This  provision  was  inserted  in  the  Constitution  for  the 
express  purpose  of  securing  what  did  not  exist  under  the 
Articles  of  Confederation,  —  the  rendition  of  slaves  escaping 
from  one  State  into  another.  General  Pinckney,  the  expo 
nent  of  that  class  of  slaveholders  who  were  in  favor  of  the  per 
petuity  of  the  slavery  of  the  African  race,  demanded  this 
provision  as  a  condition  precedent  to  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution  ;  and  the  convention  yielded.  In  the  convention 
of  South  Carolina  for  its  ratification  General  Pinckney  em 
phatically  declared :  "  We  have  a  right  to  recover  our  slaves 
in  whatever  part  of  America  they  may  take  refuge.  In  short, 
considering  all  circumstances,  we  have  made  the  best  terms 
for  the  security  of  this  species  of  property  it  was  in  our  power 
to  make.  We  would  have  made  better,  if  we  could  ;  but,  on 
the  whole,  I  do  not  think  them  bad."  It  was  stated  by  Mr. 
Madison,  in  the  convention  of  Virginia,  that  "  this  clause  was 
expressly  inserted  to  enable  owners  of  slaves  to  reclaim 
them."  It  was  stated,  too,  in  the  North  Carolina  Convention, 
by  Mr.  Iredell,  afterward  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  that,  though  the  word  "  slave  "  was  not  men 
tioned,  owing  to  the  peculiar  scruples  of  Northern  delegates 
on  the  subject  of  slavery,  the  article  was  inserted  to  enable 
masters  to  recover  their  slaves  escaping  into  other  States. 

Thus  was  incorporated  into  the  Constitution  that  fearful  and 
far-reaching  provision  which  actually  transformed  the  whole 
territory  of  the  Republic  into  one  vast  hunting-ground,  in 
which  brutal  men  —  such  as  slavery  alone  can  make  —  might 
range  at  pleasure,  and,  under  cover  of  the  cruel  and  inhuman 
statutes  it  authorized,  hunt,  seize,  and  return  to  bondage  men 


RENDITION   OF   FUGITIVE   SLAVES.  55 

and  women  whose  only  crimes  were  a  desire  to  be  free  and  a 
heroism  to  dare  the  perils  of  escape  for  that  priceless  boon ; 
while  their  friends,  and  the  friends  of  justice  and  humanity, 
could  only  look  on,  impotent  for  help,  blushing  at  their 
country's  degradation,  and  sympathizing,  though  vainly,  with 
its  victims.  The  only  palliation  to  be  urged  for  thus  yielding 
to  the  wicked  demands  and  the  imperious  threats  of  slave- 
masters  was  the  weakness  of  faith  and  courage  naturally  aris 
ing  from  the  perils  menacing  the  country,  and  the  too  confi 
dent  expectation  that  slavery  was  to  be  but  a  temporary  sys 
tem,  soon  to  pass  away. 

From  the  opening  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution  to  the  meet- 
ing  of  the  convention,  the  supporters  of  slavery  had  moved 
with  hesitating  step.  The  clash  of  arms,  and  the  enunciation 
of  the  primal  truth  of  human  rights  in  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  in  the  constitutions  of  several  of  the  States, 
and  by  eminent  statesmen  and  philanthropists,  threatened  the 
security  and  perpetuity  of  the  system.  Action  against  the 
slave-trade,  emancipation  in  several  of  the  Northern  States, 
the  permission  of  Virginia  to  humane  masters  to  give  freedom 
to  their  slaves,  the  plan  devised,  but  not  adopted,  for  gradual 
emancipation  in  Virginia  by  Thomas  Jefferson  and  George 
Wythe,  the  ordinance  inhibiting  slavery  in  the  vast  territory 
northwest  of  the  Ohio,  showed  the  tendencies  of  the  age, 
weakened  the  confidence  of  slaveholders  in  the  stability  of 
their  system,  while  at  the  same  time  they  begot  a  too  credu 
lous  expectation  among  the  friends  of  freedom  of  its  speedy 
downfall. 

But  the  incorporation  of  the  fatal  concessions  to  slavery 
into  the  fundamental  law  of  the  nation  breathed  into  the  sys 
tem  new  life,  and  inspired  new  hope  in  those  desirous  of  its 
indefinite  perpetuation.  Little  did  the  men  of  that  conven 
tion  comprehend  the  full  significance  of  their  action  in  the 
added  vitality  which  these  concessions  imparted  to  the  slave 
system.  Little  did  they  anticipate  the  stimulus  which  would 
be  given  to  it  by  a  stable  government,  the  opening  of  fresh 
territory,  and  the  large  increase  of  the  cotton  culture.  Little 
did  they  foresee  the  wonderful  growth  and  expansion  of  a  sys- 


56          EISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

tern  that  was  to  poison  the  fountain  of  national  life  and  diffuse 
its  pestiferous  influences  throughout  the  land.  Nor  did  they 
at  all  realize  that  even  then  they  were  bowing  before  a  new 
born  power,  which  would  for  more  than  two  generations  per 
vert  the  government  from  the  very  purposes  for  which  they 
were  establishing  it,  until  at  last  it  should  perish  in  the  vain 
attempt  to  compass  its  overthrow. 


CHAPTER  V. 

PROPOSED  TAX  ON  SLAVES.  —  FIRST  SLAVERY  DEBATES  IN  CON 
GRESS.  —  PETITIONS  FOR  EMANCIPATION.  —  POWERS  OF  THE 
GOVERNMENT  DEFINED. 

Meeting  of  Congress.  —  Proposition  to  tax  Slaves  Imported.  —  Debate  on  the 
Amendment.  —  Defeat  of  the  Proposition.  —  Petitions  for  Emancipation.  — 
Franklin's  Memorial.  —  Excited  Debate.  —  Special  Committee.  —  Report  of 
the  Committee.  —  Southern  Members  defend  Slavery  and  the  Slave-trade.  — 
Tone  of  the  Debate.  —  Powers  of  Congress  denned  and  declared.  —  Mr.  Mif- 
flin's  Petition.  —  Right  of  Petition  violated. 

THE  first  Congress  under  the  Constitution  met  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  in  March,  1789  ;  though  a  quorum  did  not  appear 
until  the  6th  of  April.  It  at  once  addressed  itself  to  the 
pressing  duty  of  organizing  the  new  government,  and  of  pro 
viding  means  for  its  support.  When  the  bill  imposing  a  duty 
on  imports  was  under  consideration  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  Mr.  Parker  of  Virginia  moved  an  amendment, 
imposing  a  duty  of  ten  dollars  on  every  slave  imported. 
This  amendment  excited  much  interest,  especially  among  the 
members  from  South  Carolina  and  Georgia.  Mr.  Smith,  of 
the  former  State,  hastened  to  express  the  hope  "  that  such 
an  important  and  serious  proposition  would  not  be  hastily 
adopted  " ;  and  he  averred  that  "  no  one  topic  had  been  yet 
introduced  so  important  to  South  Carolina  and  the  welfare  of 
the  Union." 

Roger  Sherman  of  Connecticut  expressed  his  approval  of 
"  the  object  of  the  motion,  but  did  not  think  it  a  fit  subject  to 
be  embraced  in  this  bill.  He  could  not  reconcile  himself  to 
the  insertion  of  human  beings  as  a  subject  of  import  among 
goods,  wares,  and  merchandise."  He  then  earnestly  urged 
the  withdrawal  of  the  amendment,  and  suggested  that  it  might 
afterward  be  introduced  as  an  independent  proposition. 


58         RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

Mr.  Jackson  of  Georgia  declared  that  he  was  "  not  surprised, 
however  others  might  be,  at  the  quarter  whence  this  motion 
came.  Virginia,  an  old  settled  State,  has  her  complement  of 
slaves,  and,  the  natural  increase  being  sufficient  for  her  pur 
pose,  she  was  careless  of  recruiting  her  numbers  by  importa 
tion.  But  gentlemen  ought  to  let  their  neighbors  get  supplied 
before  they  imposed  such  a  burden."  He  expressed  his  con 
fidence  that,  on  account  of  the  unsuitableness  of  the  motion  to 
the  business  in  hand,  it  would  be  withdrawn.  Alluding  petu 
lantly  to  the  "  white  slaves  "  "  imported  from  all  the  jails  of 
Europe,"  he  contended  that  they  should  be  "  equally  taxed  " 
with  the  African,  and  that  such  a  course  would  be  equally 
constitutional  and  proper. 

To  the  suggestion  of  withdrawing  the  amendment,  Mr.  Par 
ker  —  who  had,  on  moving  it,  expressed  his  regret  that  the 
Constitution  prevented  Congress  from  prohibiting  altogether 
the  importation  of  slaves  —  declared  that,  "  having  introduced 
the  motion  on  mature  reflection,  he  did  not  like  to  withdraw 
it."  He  proceeded  further,  and  expressed  the  hope  that 
"  Congress  would  do  all  in  their  power  to  restore  to  human 
nature  its  inherent  privileges  ;  to  wipe  off,  if  possible,  the 
stigma  under  which  America  labored ;  to  do  away  the  incon 
sistency  in  our  principles  justly  charged  upon  us  ;  and  to 
show  by  our  actions  the  purer  beneficence  of  the  doctrine  held 
out  to  the  world  in  our  Declaration  of  Independence." 

Mr.  Sherman  again  avowed  his  opposition  to  the  amendment, 
as  it  was  inconsistent  with  the  principle  of  the  bill,  which  was 
to  raise  revenue,  while  the  principle  of  the  amendment  was 
to  correct  a  moral  evil.  Fisher  Ames  of  Massachusetts  ex 
pressed  his  detestation  of  "  slavery  from  his  soul ;  but  he  had 
some  doubts  whether  imposing  a  duty  on  such  importation 
would  not  have  an  appearance  of  countenancing  the  practice." 

Mr.  Jackson  further  opposed  the  amendment.  "  It  is,"  he 
said,  "  the  fashion  of  the  day  to  favor  the  liberty  of  slaves. 
I  believe  that  they  are  better  off  as  they  are,  and  better  off 
than  they  were  in  Africa.  Experience  has  shown  that  liber 
ated  slaves  will  not  work  for  a  living."  He  then  asked  if  Vir 
ginia  would  free  her  negroes,  and  declared  that  "  when  the 


FIRST   SLAVERY   DEBATES   IN   CONGRESS.  59 

practice  comes  to  be  tried,  then  the  sound  of  liberty  will  lose 
those  charms  which  make  it  grateful  to  the  ravished  ear." 

The  amendment  was  supported  by  Mr.  Bland  of  Virginia, 
who  expressed  the  wish  that  slavery  had  never  been  introduced 
into  America,  and  was  willing  to  join  in  any  measure  to  pre 
vent  its  extending  further.  Mr.  Madison  said  that  the  clause 
in  the  Constitution  allowing  a  tax  was  inserted,  he  believed, 
"  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  Congress  to  give  some  testimony 
of  the  sense  of  America  with  respect  to  the  African  trade. 
By  expressing  a  national  disapprobation  of  that  trade,  it  is  to 
be  hoped  we  may  destroy  it,  and  so  save  ourselves  from  re 
proaches  and  our  posterity  from  the  imbecility  ever  attendant 
upon  a  country  filled  with  slaves.  This  is  as  much  the  inter 
est  of  Carolina  and  Georgia  as  of  any  other  State.  Every 
addition  they  receive  to  their  number  of  slaves  tends  to  weak 
ness  and  renders  them  less  capable  of  self-defence.  In  case 
of  hostility  with  other  nations,  their  slave  population  will  be  a 
means,  not  of  repelling  invasion,  but  of  inviting  attack.  It  is 
the  duty  of  the  general  government  to  protect  every  part  of 
the  Union  against  danger,  as  well  internal  as  external.  Every 
thing,  therefore,  which  tends  to  increase  this  danger,  though  it 
might  be  a  local  affair,  yet,  if  it  involves  national  expense  or 
safety,  becomes  of  concern  to  any  part  of  the  Union,  and  a 
proper  subject  for  the  consideration  of  those  charged  with  the 
general  administration  of  the  government." 

These  views  of  Mr.  Madison  were  humane,  just,  comprehen 
sive,  and  statesmanlike.  Had  they  been  generally  entertained 
and  adhered  to  by  Southern  statesmen,  and  accepted  by 
the  Southern  people,  the  amelioration,  restriction,  and  extinc 
tion  of  slavery,  rather  than  its  expansion  and  perpetuation, 
would  have  been  their  chosen  policy.  But  widely  differing 
counsels  prevailed.  Not  only  the  nation,  indeed,  but  Mr. 
Madison  himself,  and  the  class  of  Southern  men  he  repre 
sented,  failed  to  employ  the  powers  here  enunciated  in  behalf 
of  freedom  and  humanity,  or  to  maintain  the  humane  senti 
ments  here  avowed.  They  soon  yielded  to  the  force  of  circum 
stances,  for  which  they  had  not  calculated,  and  which  they 
seemed  powerless  to  control;  and  became,  if  not  the  advo- 


60  RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

cates,  the  consenting  witnesses  to  the  aggressive  encroach 
ments  and  assaults  on  human  rights.  They  had  not  antici 
pated  and  were  not  prepared  for  the  soon  disclosed  fact,  that 
to  the  ordinary  motives  for  the  continued  existence  of  slavery 
there  were  to  be  added  the  stimulus  of  the  greatly  increased 
industries  developed  and  fostered  by  the  new  government. 
Nor  had  they  then  realized  how  exacting  and  tyrannous  the 
slave-masters,  flushed  with  their  successes  in  the  convention, 
would  soon  become,  and  with  what  tenacity  and  persistency 
they  would  press  the  advantages  they  then  gained.  They  had 
faint  conceptions  of  the  concessions  made  in  the  Constitution 
to  the  slave  interest.  For  from  the  time  they  were  made 
the  demands  of  consistency  and  the  logic  of  those  concessions 
were  always  against  them.  Consenting  to  the  great  wrong, 
they  lost  too  much  of  their  moral  power.  Leaving  the  rock 
of  principle,  they  found  no  foothold  on  the  shifting  sands  of 
expediency  and  compromise,  on  which  they  could  stand  against 
the  compact  forces  of  the  Slave  Power,  however  vile  and  des 
perate  its  cause  might  be.  Ever  after  these  fatal  concessions 
in  the  Constitution  the  nation  seemed  like  a  strong  man  strug 
gling  in  toils  and  meshes ;  or,  rather,  like  the  giant  shorn  of 
his  locks,  sleeping  in  the  lap  of  the  wanton  who  had  lured  him 
to  dishonor,  if  not  to  destruction. 

At  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Madison  Mr.  Parker  withdrew  his 
amendment,  with  the  understanding  that  it  should  be  after 
ward  brought  up  as  a  distinct  measure.  The  subject  was  sub 
sequently  referred  to  a  committee,  of  which  he  was  made 
chairman.  He  reported  a  bill  which  was  referred  to  the  next 
session  ;  but  it  was  never  acted  upon.  The  men  who  extorted 
from  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  the  permission  to  continue 
the  slave-trade  for  twenty  years  were  in  no  mood  to  allow  a 
tax  of  ten  dollars  on  every  imported  African.  They  were  not 
only  jealous  of  any  action  on  the  part  of  the  Federal  govern 
ment,  but  they  determined  to  secure  the  full  benefits  of  the 
traffic  in  human  flesh. 

Within  one  year  after  the  organization  of  the  first  Congress, 
memorials  were  presented  deploring  the  evils  of  slavery  and 
praying  for  immediate  action  for  their  abatement.  They  re- 


PETITIONS   FOR  EMANCIPATION.  61 

vealed  a  deep  sense  of  justice,  a  high  regard  for  the  rights  of 
man,  and  a  profound  recognition  of  the  claims  of  morality  and 
religion.  On  the  llth  of  February,  1790,  a  petition  was  pre 
sented  from  the  Quakers  to  the  House  of  Representatives. 
The  memorialists  alluded  to  the  fact  that  "  the  same  religious 
society  addressed,  in  1783,  the  then  Congress  on  the  same  sub 
ject  ;  which  body,  though  the  Christian  rectitude  of  the  con 
cern  was  by  the  delegates  generally  acknowledged,  yet,  not 
being  vested  with  the  powers  of  legislation,  declined  "  acting 
on  the  subject.  They  say  :  "  As  professors  of  faith  in  that  ever- 
blessed,  all-perfect  Lawgiver,  whose  injunction  remains  of 
undiminished  obligation, — 'Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men 
should  do  unto  you,  do  ye  even  so  unto  them '  ;  and  firmly  be 
lieving  that  unfeigned  righteousness  in  public  as  well  as  pri 
vate  citizens  is  the  only  sure  ground  of  hope  of  the  divine 
blessing ;  ....  we  feel  it  incumbent  on  us,  as  a  religious  body, 
to  attempt  to  excite  your  attention  to  the  affecting  subject," 
and  induce  you  to  "  exert  your  upright  endeavors  to  the  full 
extent  of  your  power."  They  expressed  the  confident  expec 
tation  that  the  exercise  of  that  power  "  must  produce  the 
abolition  of  the  slave-trade." 

Mr.  Hartley  of  Pennsylvania  moved  that  a  petition  coming 
from  u  so  numerous  and  respectable  a  part  of  the  community  " 
should  be  referred  to  a  committee.  To  this  motion  Mr.  Smith 
of  South  Carolina  objected ;  saying,  however  respectable  the 
petitioners  were,  there  were  others,  equally  respectable,  op 
posed  to  their  object.  Mr.  Parker  of  Virginia  expressed  his 
pleasure  that  "  so  many  were  attending  to  matters  of  such  mo 
mentous  concern  to  the  future  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the 
people."  Mr.  Madison  thought  it  proper  to  receive  and  con 
sider  the  petition,  "  because,  if  there  is  anything  within  the 
Federal  authority  to  restrain  such  violation  of  the  rights  of 
nature  and  of  mankind,  it  should  be  done."  But  Mr.  Stone 
of  Maryland  declared  it  "unfortunate  that  religious  sects 
seemed  to  imagine  that  they  understood  the  rights  of  human 
nature  better  than  all  the  world  besides  "  ;  and  Mr.  Burke  of 
South  Carolina,  referring  contemptuously  to  some  Quakers 
present,  said,  "  The  men  in  the  galleries  were  meddling  with 


62          RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN   AMERICA. 

what  did  not  belong  to  them  ;  and,  though  he  had  great  re 
spect  for  the  Quakers,  he  did  not  think  they  had  more  virtue 
and  religion  than  many  others,  perhaps  not  so  much  as  some 
others." 

Mr.  Jackson  of  Georgia,  an  Englishman  by  birth,  an  officer 
in  the  Revolutionary  army,  and  a  delegate  to  the  convention 
which  framed  the  Constitution,  wanted  "  to  know  if  the  whole 
morality  of  the  world  is  confined  to  the  Quakers  ?  Do  they 
understand  the  rights  of  mankind  and  the  disposition  of  man 
kind  better  than  others  ?  The  Saviour  had  more  benevolence 
and  commiseration  than  they  pretend  to  have,  and  he  admitted 
slavery."  Mr.  Gerry  maintained  the  right  of  petition,  and 
defended  the  action  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  who  wished  to 
see  measures  pursued  by  every  nation  to  wipe  off  the  indelible 
stain  brought  upon  all  who  were  concerned  in  it.  The  memo 
rial  was  finally  laid  upon  the  table,  and  thus  ended  the  first 
debate  on  antislavery  petitions  in  Congress. 

On  the  12th  of  February,  1790,  a  memorial  was  presented 
from  the  "  Pennsylvania  Society  for  Promoting  the  Abolition 
of  Slavery  "  signed  and  said  to  have  been  written  by  Franklin. 
As  this  illustrious  citizen  died  soon  afterward,  the  American 
people  are  justified  in  regarding  it  as  the  last  and  wisest  of 
the  many  sage  counsels  bequeathed  by  him  to  his  countrymen. 
After  alluding  to  the  origin,  objects,  and  general  constituency 
of  the  society,  being  "  of  various  religious  denominations,"  and 
to  the  gratifying  circumstance  that  similar  associations  were 
forming  at  home  and  abroad,  the  memorial  proceeds  :  "  That 
mankind  are  all  formed  by  the  same  Almighty  Being,  alike 
objects  of  his  care  and  equally  designed  for  the  enjoyment  of 
happiness,  the  Christian  religion  teaches  us  to  believe,  and  the 
political  creed  of  Americans  fully  coincides  with  that  position." 
It  quotes,  too,  from  the  preamble  of  the  Constitution,  as  indi 
cating  one  of  the  objects  of  that  instrument  for  promoting  "  the 
welfare  and  securing  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  the  people  of 
the  United  States,"  which  "  blessings  of  liberty,"  it  declares, 
"  ought  rightfully  to  be  administered  without  distinction  of 
color."  "  From  a  persuasion,  too,"  it  continues,  "  that  equal 
liberty  was  originally  the  portion  and  is  still  the  birthright  of  all 


PETITIONS   FOR   EMANCIPATION.  63 

men,  we  earnestly  entreat  your  serious  attention  to  the  subject 
of  slavery  ;  that  you  will  be  pleased  to  countenance  the  restora 
tion  to  liberty  of  those  unhappy  men  who,  alone  in  this  land  of 
freedom,  are  degraded  to  perpetual  bondage,  and  who,  amidst 
the  general  joy  of  surrounding  freemen,  are  groaning  in  servile 
subjection  ;  that  you  will  devise  means  for  removing  this  incon 
sistency  from  the  character  of  the  American  people ;  .  .  .  .  and 
that  you  will  step  to  the  very  verge  of  power  vested  in  you  for 
discouraging  every  species  of  traffic  in  the  persons  of  our 
fellow-men." 

The  memorial  of  the  preceding  day  was  called  up,  and  both 
were  made  the  subject  of  an  able  and  exciting  debate.  Mr. 
Tucker  of  South  Carolina  was  "  surprised  to  see  another  me 
morial  upon  the  same  subject,  and  that  signed  by  a  man  who 
ought  to  have  known  the  Constitution  better."  The  argument, 
so  often  repeated  since,  was  urged,  that  the  movement  would 
aggravate  the  very  evil  it  was  sought  to  ameliorate  and  remove, 
by  buoying  up  the  slave  with  hopes  which  must  be  disappointed, 
and  necessitating  a  severity  which  would  not  otherwise  be  re 
quired.  He  parried  the  religious  argument  of  the  memorial 
by  urging  the  indorsement  of  the  Southern  clergy,  who,  he 
said,  did  not  condemn  either  slavery  or  the  slave-trade.  This 
damaging  reference  was  only  too  well  deserved,  and  too  signifi 
cant  of  their  subsequent  and  disastrous  course,  even  up  to  and 
throughout  the  Kebellion.  With  few  exceptions,  they  failed 
as  religious  teachers  of  educating  the  people  up  to  the  stand 
ard  of  a  scriptural  morality,  shirked  the  duties  imposed  upon 
them  by  the  claims  of  patriotism,  humanity,  and  religion, 
betrayed  their  sacred  trust,  and  proved  recreant  alike  to  the 
claims  of  benevolence  and  the  Word  of  God.  The  weapons 
they  should  have  pointed  against  the  cruel  and  wicked  sys 
tem  they  turned  in  its  defence.  Omniscience  alone  can  esti 
mate  how  much  of  the  subsequent  guilt,  suffering,  and  even 
the  destruction  of  the  South  was  due  to  their  influence  who 
thus  early  became  the  blind  leaders  of  the  blind.  There 
were  not  wanting,  likewise,  at  that  early  date,  those  who 
urged  the  same  arguments  on  which  so  many  changes  have 
been  rung  since,  —  the  same  deprecatory  allusions  to  the 


64         RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

danger  of  discussion,  the  same  reminders  of  the  compro 
mises  on  which  alone  the  Union  was  or  could  have  been 
based.  Mr.  Baldwin  of  Georgia,  a  native  of  Connecticut,  and 
one  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitution,  reminded  members 
that  this  was  "  a  subject  of  a  most  delicate  nature  "  ;  that  in 
the  convention  "  the  Southern  States  were  so  tender  upon  this 
point  that  they  had  wellnigh  broken  up  without  coming  to 
any  determination."  It  was  emphatically  declared  by  Mr. 
Smith  of  South  Carolina,  that  the  Southern  "  States  would 
never  have  entered  the  Confederation  unless  their  property 
had  been  guaranteed  to  them."  "  When  we  entered  into  this 
Confederacy,"  he  said,  "  we  did  it  from  political  and  not  from 
moral  motives.  And  I  don't  think  my  constituents  want  to 
learn  morals  from  the  petitioners.  I  don't  believe  they  want 
improvement  in  their  moral  systems.  If  they  do,  they  can 
learn  it  at  home." 

On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Scott  of  Pennsylvania  defended 
the  memorialists,  and  condemned  in  strong  and  unequivocal 
language  the  slave  traffic.  "  I  look  upon  the  slave-trade,"  he 
said,  "  to  be  one  of  the  most  abominable  things  on  earth ;  and, 
if  there  were  neither  God  nor  Devil,  I  should  oppose  it  on 
principles  of  humanity  and  the  law  of  humanity.  I  cannot, 
for  my  part,  conceive  how  any  person  can  be  said  to  acquire 
property  in  another.  Perhaps  in  our  legislative  capacity  we 
can  go  no  further  than  impose  a  duty  of  ten  dollars.  I  do  not 
know  how  far  I  might  go  if  I  was  one  of  the  judges  of  the 
United  States,  and  these  people  were  to  come  before  me  and 
claim  their  emancipation ;  but  I  am  sure  I  would  go  as  far 
as  I  could." 

To  these  humane  and  noble  utterances  Mr.  Jackson  of 
Georgia  replied :  "  If  that  gentleman  is  guided  by  religion, 
he  will  find  that  it  is  not  against  it.  He  will  see,  from  Genesis 
to  Revelation,  the  current  setting  strong  the  other  way."  In 
reply  to  his  declaration,  that  if  he  were  a  judge  he  would  go 
as  far  as  he  could  in  emancipating  the  people,  he  said :  "  I 
believe  that  his  judgment  would  be  of  short  duration  in 
Georgia ;  perhaps  even  the  existence  of  such  a  judge  would 
be  of  short  duration." 


POWERS   OF   THE   GOVERNMENT  DEFINED.  65 

The  memorials  were  referred  to  a  select  committee,  consist 
ing  of  Foster  of  New  Hampshire,  Gerry  of  Massachusetts, 
Huntington  of  Connecticut,  Lawrence  of  New  York,  Sin- 
nickson  of  New  Jersey,  Hartley  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Par 
ker  of  Virginia.  From  this  committee  Mr.  Hartley  made  a 
report,  manifestly  well  considered  and  carefully  drawn  up. 
In  it  the  committee  say  that,  from  the  nature  of  the  matters 
contained  in  the  memorials,  they  were  induced  to  examine  the 
powers  vested  in  Congress  under  the  present  Constitution. 
Their  conclusion  was  that  the  general  government  was  pro 
hibited  from  interfering  with  the  slave-trade  until  the  year 
1808,  that  it  was  prohibited  from  interfering  with  the  eman 
cipation  of  slaves,  within  the  States,  and  that  it  had  no 
right  to  interfere  with  the  internal  regulations  of  particular 
States.  But  they  declared  that  Congress  had  power,  if  deemed 
advisable,  to  lay  a  tax  of  ten  dollars  on  each  slave  imported  ; 
that  it  had  the  power  to  interdict  the  trade  for  foreign  sup 
ply,  and  that  it  might  regulate  the  home  traffic  in  the  inter 
ests  of  humanity  ;  and  that  it  might  prohibit  foreigners  from 
fitting  out  vessels  in  American  ports.  The  committee  closed 
by  informing  the  memorialists  that,  so  far  as  Congress  could 
do  it  constitutionally,  it  would  aim  to  promote  their  humane 
objects  "  on  the  principles  of  justice,  humanity,  and  good 
policy." 

A  report,  however,  so  guarded  and  carefully  restrained  by 
the  limitations  of  the  Constitution,  so  moderate  in  tone  and 
temper,  was  received  with  marked  demonstrations  of  hostility 
by  the  representatives  of  the  slaveholding  class,  and  its  con 
sideration  postponed  for  a  week.  When  it  was  taken  up,  Mr. 
Smith  of  South  Carolina  moved  to  "  negative  the  whole 
report."  But  it  was  taken  up  by  paragraphs,  and  the  same 
line  of  argument,  already  sketched,  was  pursued.  The  great 
est  violence  and  impatience,  with  denunciation  and  threats, 
came  from  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  —  then,  as  since,  the 
self-constituted  guardians  and  defenders  of  Southern  inter 
ests  and  Southern  honor.  They  applied  the  same  epithets  to 
the  Quakers  then  which  their  successors  have  so  freely  used 
in  regard  to  all  antislavery  reformers.  They  stigmatized 


66          RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN   AMERICA. 

them,  as  they  have  Christians  and  philanthropists  since,  as 
hypocritical  pretenders  to  a  sanctity  they  did  not  possess,  as 
factious  intermeddlers  with  what  did  not  concern  them.  They 
declared  the  compromises  of  the  Constitution  to  be  the  only 
conditions  on  which  the  Union  could  be  preserved  ;  and  they 
sternly  demanded  that  freedom  of  discussion  on  the  subject 
of  slavery  should  not  be  tolerated. 

Among  the  champions  of  slavery, the  most  able  and  conspic 
uous,  as  well  as  rancorous  and  violent,  were  Smith,  Tucker, 
and  Burke  of  South  Carolina,  and  Jackson  and  Baldwin  of 
Georgia.  Mr.  Smith  made  an  elaborate  defence  of  slavery 
and  the  slave-trade  on  historical,  scriptural,  and  humanitarian 
grounds.  He  denied  the  "  horrors  of  the  Middle  Passage," 
and  contended  that  slaves  imported  from  Africa  were  benefit 
ed  by  the  change,  as  they  were  here  saved  from  a  worse  fate 
which  awaited  them  in  their  native  land.  Freedom,  however, 
was  not  without  its  true  and  steady  defenders,  —  men  who 
enunciated  with  great  boldness  and  force  the  fundamental 
principles,  the  primal  truths,  not  only  of  natural  rights  and 
obligation,  but  of  Christian  morality  and  duty.  Trammelled, 
indeed,  by  those  compromises  which  have  always  hampered 
the  advocates  of  human  rights  under  the  Constitution,  even 
the  most  conscientious  and  outspoken,  they  yet  boldly  de 
nounced  the  system  which  had  no  sanction  in  reason  or  rev 
elation.  The  most  distinguished  of  these  advocates  were  Yin- 
ing  of  Delaware,  and  Scott  and  Boudinot  of  Pennsylvania. 

This  great  and  pregnant  debate  was  closed  on  the  23d  of 
March,  when  a  substitute  for  the  report  was  adopted  in  com 
mittee  of  the  whole.  On  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Madison,  who 
desired  to  quiet  the  fears  of  the  South,  by  showing  that  Con 
gress  claimed  no  power  to  prohibit  the  slave-trade  till  1808, 
and  no  power  to  abolish  slavery  at  all,  the  House,  by  a  vote  of 
twenty-nine  to  twenty-five,  entered  on  the  journal  the  report 
of  the  committee,  and  also  the  report  of  the  committee  of  the 
whole,  as  amendments  to  that  report.  The  amendments 
reported  by  the  committee  of  the  whole  stood,  therefore,  as 
the  judgment  of  the  House. 

By  these  resolutions  the  House  of  Representatives  declared 


POWERS   OF   THE   GOVERNMENT  DEFINED.  67 

that  the  importation  of  such  persons  as  any  of  the  States 
should  admit  could  not  be  prohibited  by  Congress  before  1808  ; 
that  Congress  had  no  power  to  interfere  with  emancipation  or 
the  treatment  of  slaves  in  the  States  ;  but  that  it  had  author 
ity  to  restrain  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  from  carrying 
on  the  slave-trade  to  supply  foreigners  with  slaves,  and  that  it 
had  the  power  to  make  regulations  for  the  humane  treatment, 
on  their  passage,  of  slaves  imported  by  citizens  into  States 
admitting  such  importations.  Though  these  resolutions  had 
not  the  authority  of  a  legislative  enactment,  yet  in  all  the 
subsequent  conflicts  growing  out  of  the  slavery  question  the 
doctrines  therein  embodied  have  been  generally  recognized  as 
the  true  exposition  of  the  Constitution,  and  of  the  powers  of 
Congress  touching  that  matter. 

This  debate  on  slavery  was  strikingly  characteristic  and 
significant.  It  clearly  revealed  in  tone  and  temper,  matter 
and  manner,  thought  and  language,  that  difference  between 
the  friends  of  freedom  and  the  supporters  of  slavery,  wiiich 
has  ever  marked  discussions  growing  out  of  their  diversity  of 
interests,  views,  feelings,  and  purposes.  On  the  one  side  the 
debate  was  grave,  dignified,  and  regardful  of  the  rights  of  man 
and  the  authority  of  God  ;  on  the  other,  it  was  flippant,  con 
temptuous,  and  indifferent  alike  to  the  claims  of  humanity,  the 
courtesies  of  debate,  and  the  binding  obligations  of  a  Christian 
morality. 

The  abolition  societies  of  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  Rhode 
Island,  Connecticut,  and  Virginia,  in  1791,  presented  memo 
rials  calling  upon  Congress  to  exercise  those  powers  which  the 
House  of  Representatives  had  declared  that  Congress  pos 
sessed,  in  the  resolutions  of  the  committee  of  the  whole,  which 
had  been  entered  upon  the  journal.  These  memorials  were 
referred  to  a  special  committee  of  which  Mr.  Benson  of  New 
York  was  made  chairman.  No  action  was  taken  by  the  com 
mittee.  At  the  next  session  other  memorials  of  a  similar 
character  were  presented.  But  they  were  permitted  to  lie 
without  action  or  reference. 

In  November,  1792,  Mr.  Ames  presented  a  petition  from 
Warner  Mifflin,  a  Quaker  gentleman  of  Delaware,  setting  forth 


68          RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

the  injustice  of  slavery  and  the  wrongs  of  the  slave.  Two 
days  afterward  Mr.  Steele  of  North  Carolina  called  attention 
to  the  petition,  and  moved  that  it  be  taken  from  the  table  and 
returned  to  the  petitioner,  and  that  the  record  of  its  reception 
be  erased.  Smith  of  South  Carolina  denounced  the  petition 
as  "  the  mere  rant  and  rhapsody  of  a  meddling  fanatic,  inter 
larded  with  texts  of  Scripture."  He  declared  the  real  object 
of  the  petition  to  be  to  "  create  disunion  among  the  States 
and  to  excite  the  most  horrible  insurrections."  Declaring 
that  petitions  of  that  character  were  not  calculated  to  amelio 
rate  the  condition  of  the  slaves,  but  to  excite  a  spirit  of  rest 
lessness,  which  made  greater  securities  necessary,  he  called 
upon  the  House  to  sustain  the  motion,  and  thus  convince  "  this 
troublesome  enthusiast,  and  others  who  might  be  disposed  to 
communicate  their  ravings  and  wild  effusions,  that  they  would 
meet  the  treatment  they  justly  deserve."  Mr.  Ames  disap 
proved  the  object  of  the  petitioners  ;  but  defended  the  general 
right  of  petition,  and  justified,  on  that  ground,  his  presentation 
of  the  memorial.  The  House  sustained  the  motion  to  return 
the  memorial  to  the  petitioner  ;  and  Mr.  Steele  then  withdrew 
his  motion  to  erase  the  record  of  its  reception  from  the  journal. 
This  high-handed  measure  was  a  clear  and  palpable  violation 
of  the  constitutional  right  of  petition,  a  gross  indignity  to  the 
petitioner,  and  an  insult  to  a  free  people. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE   FUGITIVE   SLAVE   ACT  OF   1793.  —  PROPOSED    AMENDMENTS. 

Bill  for  the  Rendition  of  Fugitive  Slaves.  —  Bill  passed  the  Senate,  — passed  the 
House.  —  Petition  of  Free  Colored  Men  to  be  protected  against  it.  —  Exciting 
Debate.  —  Memorial  of  Colored  Men  of  Philadelphia.  —  Exciting  and  Violent 
Debate.  —  Disunion  threatened  by  Mr.  Rutledge.  —  Action  of  the  House.  — 
Further  Legislation  demanded.  —  Mr.  Pindall's  Bill.  —  Amendment  by  Mr. 
Rich.  —  Mr.  Storrs'  Amendment.  —  Debate  on  the  Bill  and  Amendments.  — 
Mr.  Fuller's  Amendments.  —  Bill  passed  the  House,  —  passed  the  Senate,  with 
Amendments.  —  House  refused  to  take  it  up.  —  Mr.  Wright's  Resolution.  — 
Bill  reported  by  Judiciary  Committee.  —  Debated.  —  Recommitted  to  a  Select 
Committee.  —  Reported,  but  not  acted  on. 

BY  their  persistency  the  statesmen  representing  the  Slave 
Power  secured  from  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  the  pro 
vision  for  the  rendition  of  fugitive  slaves.  Having  obtained 
the  incorporation  of  this  provision  into  the  fundamental  law, 
they  early  and  eagerly  sought  its  enforcement. 

In  the  Senate,  in  November,  1792,  Mr.  Johnston  of  North 
Carolina,  Mr.  Cabot  of  Massachusetts,  and  Mr.  Read  of  Dela 
ware  were  appointed  a  committee  for  the  consideration  of  mat 
ters  relating  to  fugitives  from  justice,  and  slaves  escaping  from 
their  masters.  The  committee  reported  a  bill  in  December, 
and  on  the  28th  of  the  same  month  it  was  recommitted,  and 
Mr.  Taylor  of  Virginia  and  Mr.  Sherman  of  Connecticut 
were  added  to  the  committee.  On  the  3d  of  January,  1793, 
Mr.  Johnston  reported  the  original  bill,  with  amendments.  It 
was  considered  several  days,  and  passed  without  a  division. 
On  the  4th  of  February  the  House  proceeded  to  its  considera 
tion,  and  the  next  day  it  passed  by  a  vote  of  48  to  7.  Thus 
this  act,  which  gave  the  slave-masters  and  their  agents  sum 
mary  power  to  seize,  hold,  and  return  to  slavery  their  fugitive 
bondmen,  passed  the  Senate  without  a  dissenting  voice ;  and 


70          RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

in  the  House  there  were  found  only  seven  members  to  record 
their  votes  against  that  dishonoring  act,  by  authority  of  which 
so  many  inhuman  and  wicked  deeds  have  been  committed. 

Under  this  Fugitive  Slave  Act  of  1793  many  arrests  of  per 
sons  alleged  to  have  escaped  from  servitude  were  made,  and 
much  alarm  among  free  persons  of  color  was  created.  Many 
free  negroes,  especially  in  the  States  of  Pennsylvania  and  Del 
aware,  were  kidnapped  and  sold  into  slavery.  At  the  first  ses 
sion  of  the  Fourth  Congress  a  memorial  was  presented  from 
the  legislature  of  Delaware,  asking  the  protection  of  the  gen 
eral  government  against  this  kidnapping.  It  was  referred  to 
the  Committee  on  Commerce,  which  made  a  report  asking  for 
instructions. 

In  December,  1796,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Swan  wick  of  Penn 
sylvania,  the  report  of  the  previous  session  was  taken  up  for 
consideration.  Mr.  Coit  of  Connecticut,  a  member  of  the 
Committee  of  Commerce,  thought  the  laws  of  the  several 
States  fully  adequate  without  further  provisions.  He  did  not 
wish  the  United  States  to  "  intermeddle  "  in  the  case.  To  this 
Mr.  Swanwick  replied  that  the  State  laws  were  broken  with 
impunity.  He  was  for  obliging  masters  of  vessels  when  they 
took  negroes  on  board  to  have  certificates  of  their  freedom.  Mr. 
Murray  of  Maryland  asked  if  the  idea  of  preventing  kidnap 
ping  meant  the  taking  of  "  free  negroes  and  selling  them  as 
slaves,  or  the  taking  of  slaves  and  making  them  free  ?  "  To 
this  question  Mr.  Swanwick  replied  that  it  was  "  intended  to 
prevent  both  evils."  Any  action  of  Congress  was  opposed  by 
Mr.  Smith  of  South  Carolina,  because  the  matter  was  a 
municipal  regulation,  which  should  be  left  to  the  State  legisla 
tures.  The  House  was  reminded  by  Mr.  Smith  of  New  Jersey 
that  negroes  had  in  many  instances  been  taken  upon  ships  at 
night,  and  then  carried  to  the  West  Indies  and  other  parts  of 
the  world  and  sold  ;  and  that  the  existing  State  laws  could  not 
prevent  that  fraudulent  practice. 

Mr.  Sitgreaves  and  Mr.  Swanwick  earnestly  urged  immedi 
ate  action  for  the  protection  of  unfortunate  negroes  and  mulat- 
toes  exposed,  by  their  color,  to  insult  and  injury.  Mr.  Smith 
of  South  Carolina  feared  that  the  "  use  of  the  word  i  emanci- 


THE   FUGITIVE   SLAVE   ACT   OF   1793.  71 

pation  '  "  by  Mr.  Swan  wick  would  spread  alarm  through  some 
of  the  States.  He  would  drop  the  subject  altogether.  Mr. 
Nicholas  of  Virginia  expressed  the  hope  that  the  subject 
would  not  be  dismissed ;  for  if  they  of  the  Southern  States 
"  unfortunately  held  slaves,  they  ought  not  to  contribute  to 
make  slaves  of  free  men."  After  further  debate  the  report 
was  recommitted  to  the  Committee  on  Commerce ;  and  on  the 
18th  of  January,  1797,  Mr.  Swanwick,  by  the  instructions  of 
the  committee,  though  against  his  own  opinion,  reported  that 
it  was  not  expedient  to  interfere  with  the  existing  laws  of  the 
States  on  that  subject. 

In  January,  1797,  Mr.  Swanwick  presented  a  petition  from 
persons  of  African  descent,  natives  of  North  Carolina,  who 
had  been  emancipated  and  re-enslaved.  These  persons  set 
forth  that  they  had  been  liberated  "  under  the  hand  and  seal 
of  conscientious  masters,"  by  authority  of  a  law  pronounced 
constitutional ;  that  another  law  had  been  enacted  under  which 
men  of  "  cruel  disposition  and  void  of  principle  "  were  seeking 
to  re-enslave  them  ;  that  they  were  reduced  to  the  necessity  of 
separating  from  their  nearest  and  most  tender  connections,  and 
of  seeking  refuge  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  always  liable 
to  be  seized  and  reduced  to  bondage  again,  under  the  provisions 
of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act.  "  To  you  only,"  they  say,  "  under 
God,  can  we  apply,  with  any  hope  of  effect,  for  redress  of  our 
grievances." 

Mr.  Swanwick  desired  that  the  petition  should  be  referred  to 
a  select  committee  ;  but  Mr.  Blount  of  North  Carolina  hoped  the 
petition  would  not  be  received.  A  committee  on  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Act  had  been  appointed,  and  Mr.  Thatcher  of  Massa 
chusetts  thought  this  petition  should  be  referred  to  that  com 
mittee.  He  asserted  that  they  were  free  people,  and  had  an 
undoubted  right  to  petition  and  be  heard.  Mr.  Swanwick 
animadA^erted  on  the  atrocity  of  a  reward  of  ten  dollars  offered 
for  one  of  them  if  taken  alive,  and  fifty  dollars  if  found  dead, 
and  no  questions  to  be  asked.  He  denounced  that "  horrid  re 
ward,"  which  gentlemen  could  not  hear  without  a  "  shudder," 
as  an  encouragement  to  put  an  end  to  that  man's  life.  Heath 
and  Madison  of  Virginia  were  in  favor  of  letting  the  petition 


72          RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

lie  on  the  table  ;  but  Mr.  Rutherford  of  the  same  State  favored 
the  reference  of  the  memorial  to  a  committee,  as  the  "  great 
hardships  "  represented  in  the  petition  appealed  closely  to  the 
nicest  feelings  of  the  heart,  and  he  "  hoped  humanity  would 
dictate  a  just  decision."  Mr.  Gilbert  of  New  Jersey  thought 
the  petition  "  laid  claim  to  the  humanity  of  the  House  "  ;  but 
Mr.  Smith  of  South  Carolina  was  in  favor  of  sealing  it  up  and 
sending  it  back  to  the  petitioners. 

Mr.  Thatcher  said  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  had  no  authority 
over  that  set  of  men  who  claim  the  protection  of  that  House, 
which  ought  "  always  to  lean  toward  freedom."  Though  they 
could  not  give  freedom  to  slaves,  yet  he  hoped  gentlemen 
would  not  refuse  to  lend  their  aid  to  secure  freemen  against 
tyrannical  imposition.  Mr.  Varnum  of  Massachusetts  said 
the  petitioners  had  received  injury  under  the  provisions  of  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Act,  as  well  as  under  the  laws  of  North  Caro 
lina,  and  they  had  an  undoubted  right  to  the  attention  of  the 
general  government.  If  it  should  appear  that  they  were  free, 
and  had  received  injuries  under  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act,  that 
Act  ought  to  be  amended.  Mr.  Kitchell  of  New  Jersey  main 
tained  that  the  question  was  not  whether  they  were  or  were 
not  slaves,  but  whether  a  committee  should  inquire  into  the 
improper  enforcement  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  in  their  case. 
But  the  House  refused  to  receive  the  petition,  thirty-three  vot 
ing  for  it  and  fifty  against  it. 

In  December,  1799,  Robert  Wain  of  Pennsylvania  presented 
a  petition  from  colored  men  in  Philadelphia,  praying  for  the 
revision  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  and  the  laws  relative  to 
the  slave-trade,  and  for  the  adoption  of  such  measures  as 
should  in  the  course  of  time  emancipate  their  brethren.  Its 
reference  was  earnestly  opposed  by  Mr.  Rutledge  of  South 
Carolina,  who  contemptuously  observed  that  the  gentlemen 
who  formerly  came  forward  with  their  petitions  had  now  put 
them  into  the  hands  of  the  "black  gentlemen."  These  peti 
tioners  reminded  the  House  that  black  people  were  in  slavery. 
He  "  thanked  God  that  they  were  ;  if  they  were  not,  dreadful 
would  be  the  consequences."  Mr.  Smilie  of  Pennsylvania  said 
that  these  colored  people  were  "  a  part  of  the  human  species, 


THE   FUGITIVE   SLAVE   ACT   OF   1793.  73 

equally  capable  of  suffering  and  enjoying,  equally  the  objects 
of  attention,  and  they  had  a  claim  to  be  heard." 

Harrison  Gray  Otis  had  never  seen  a  petition  presented 
under  a  more  dangerous  aspect ;  and  he  opposed  the  reference. 
Henry  Lee  of  Virginia,  father  of  Robert  E.  Lee,  the  rebel 
general,  would  have  the  petition  returned  to  the  gentleman 
who  presented  it,  "  as  Congress  had  no  power  over  slavery  but 
to  protect  it."  Mr.  Brown  of  Rhode  Island  hoped  that 
Northern  men  would  see  the  impropriety  of  encouraging 
slaves  to  come  from  Southern  States  to  "  become  thieves  and 
vagabonds."  He  was  not  a  slaveholder,  but  he  considered 
"  slaves  as  much  property  as  a  farm  or  a  ship."  John  Ran 
dolph,  who  had  just  entered  Congress,  desired  that  the  action 
of  the  House  should  be  so  decided  as  to  deter  persons  from 
petitioning  on  that  subject  thereafter  ;  and  Mr.  Christie  of 
Maryland  hoped  the  petition  would  go  "  under  the  table, 
rather  than  on  it."  He  was  in  favor  of  taking  up  the  Fugitive 
Act,  and,  instead  of  weakening  it,  "  making  it  stronger." 
Robert  Goodloe  Harper  thought  the  temper  of  revolt  was 
more  perceptible  among  the  slaves  ;  and  Mr.  Jones  of  Geor 
gia  hoped  the  petition  would  be  treated  with  "  the  contempt  it 
merited,  and  thrown  under  the  table." 

In  the  course  of  the  debate  Mr.  Thatcher  fitly  characterized 
the  remarks  of  his  colleague,  Mr.  Otis,  "  as  pitiful,  mean, 
virulent."  Mr.  Edmond  of  Connecticut  said  it  was  unjust 
in  the  House,  instead  of  giving  a  patient  attention,  to  treat 
the  complaints  of  the  petitioners  with  "  an  inattention  that 
passion  alone  could  dictate."  It  was  then  proposed  by  Mr. 
Goode  of  Virginia  that  the  petition  should  receive  the  pointed 
disapprobation  of  the  House.  To  this  proposition  Mr.  Thatcher 
replied  that  this  was  the  first  time  he  had  ever  known  a  peti 
tion,  or  a  part  of  a  petition,  to  receive  the  marked  disapproba 
tion  of  the  House.  If  a  petition  in  favor  of  objects  so  worthy 
was  not  heard,  it  would  be  "  a  national  indignity."  Mr.  Rut- 
ledge,  perhaps  the  ablest,  certainly  the  most  devoted  and  out 
spoken  of  the  champions  of  the  slaveholding  interest,  emphati 
cally  proclaimed  that  the  abolition  of  slavery  would  never 
take  place.  "  There  is,"  he  said,  "  one  alternative  which 
10 


74          RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN   AMERICA. 

will  save  us  from  it,  —  but  that  alternative  I  deprecate  very 
much,  —  that  is,  that  we  are  able  to  take  care  of  ourselves  ; 
and,  if  driven  to  it,  we  will  take  care  of  ourselves."  The  House 
then  resolved  that  those  parts  of  the  petition  praying  Congress 
to  legislate  on  subjects  from  which  the  government  is  pre 
cluded  by  the  Constitution  had  a  tendency  to  create  disquiet 
and  jealousy,  and  ought  therefore  to  receive  no  countenance  or 
encouragement.  This  resolution  received  the  votes  of  eighty- 
five  members,  the  inflexible  Thatcher  alone  voting  in  the 
negative. 

This  hesitating  and  timid  action  seems  a  lame  and  impotent 
conclusion  of  a  debate  so  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  humanity, 
justice,  and  freedom  on  the  one  part,  though  revealing  on 
the  other  an  utter  disregard  of  the  rights  of  man  and  the 
claims  of  Christian  morality.  But  is  it,  after  all,  when  viewed 
in  the  light  of  the  compromises  of  the  Constitution,  a  matter 
of  surprise  ?  The  concessions  then  made  were,  and  ever  have 
been,  the  weak  and  vulnerable  points  in  all  the  conflicts  be 
tween  freedom  and  oppression.  The  framers  of  the  funda 
mental  law,  avoiding  the  name  of  slavery,  admitted  into  that 
instrument  "  the  guilty  fantasy  that  man  can  hold  property  in 
man."  The  slaveholders  in  their  struggles  ever  claimed  that 
"  it  was  so  nominated  in  the  bond,"  and  persistently  demanded 
their  "  pound  of  flesh."  And  so  the  integrity,  honor,  and 
even  the  Christianity  of  the  nation  were  invoked,  —  and  too 
often  successfully,  —  to  sanction  the  schemes  of  inhumanity 
and  the  injustice  of  men  determined  to  make  the  most  of 
advantages  surrendered  by  those  fatal  concessions. 

Severe  as  were  the  provisions  of  this  act,  complaints  were 
continually  made  by  slave-masters  that  it  did  not  afford  ade 
quate  facilities  for  the  recapture  of  their  escaped  slaves.  More 
stringent  provisions  and  a  more  rigid  enforcement  of  the  law 
were  still  demanded. 

In  the  House,  in  December,  1817,  Mr.  Pindall  of  Virginia, 
Mr.  Beecher  of  Ohio,  and  Mr.  Anderson  of  Kentucky  were 
appointed  a  committee  to  devise  more  effectual  means  for  the 
reclamation  of  fugitive  slaves.  A  bill  for  this  purpose  was 
reported  ;  and  the  House,  on  the  26th  of  January,  1818,  pro- 


THE   FUGITIVE   SLAVE   ACT   OF   1793.  75 

ceeded  to  its  consideration.  Its  provisions  were  explained  by 
the  chairman  of  the  committee.  It  was  moved  by  Mr.  Rich 
of  Vermont  so  to  amend  it  as  to  prevent  the  transportation  of 
any  person  claimed  as  a  slave  without  taking  such  person 
before  a  court  of  record  and  furnishing  sufficient  proof  that 
such  person  was  a  slave,  and  the  property  of  the  person 
attempting  to  remove  him,  under  a  penalty  of  ten  thousand 
dollars.  Mr.  Storrs  of  New  York  moved  to  amend  the  bill  by 
substituting,  in  lieu  of  the  amendment  of  Mr.  Rich,  a  new 
section,  providing  that,  if  any  person,  without  a  colorable 
claim,  should  procure  a  certificate  or  warrant  to  arrest  or 
transport  any  person  not  held  as  a  slave,  he  should  himself 
be  punished  by  imprisonment  not  exceeding  fifteen  years,  or 
by  fine  not  exceeding  five  thousand  dollars.  Mr.  Pindall 
united  with  Mr.  Storrs  in  supporting  his  amendment,  and  Mr. 
Rich  vindicated  his  own  amendment  on  the  ground  of  the 
enormity  of  the  crime  of  kidnapping  ;  but  Mr.  Storrs' s  amend 
ment  was  adopted  by  a  large  majority. 

It  was  maintained  by  Mr.  Claggett  of  New  Hampshire  that 
existing  laws  secured  to  the  claimants  all  the  rights  that  the 
Constitution  guaranteed  to  them.  If  any  legislation  was  neces 
sary,  it  was  to  restrain  the  claimants  from  the  abuse  of  power. 
Mr.  Pindall  maintained  that  the  duty  of  delivering  up  fugitive 
slaves  was  imposed  on  the  States,  and  that  Congress  could  by 
law  define  and  regulate  the  action  of  State  officers  in  the  per 
formance  of  that  duty.  Mr.  Fuller  of  Massachusetts  moved 
to  strike  out  the  first  section  of  the  bill,  because  it  transcended 
the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  ;  and  Mr.  Strong  spoke  ear 
nestly  in  opposition  to  the  measure.  Mr.  Cobb  of  Georgia  vin 
dicated  the  rights  of  the  holders  of  slaves  as  "  inalienable  and 
inviolable."  Mr.  Hopkinson  of  Pennsylvania  thought  that  free 
men  might  be  apprehended,  unless  proper  means  of  redress 
were  provided.  John  Holmes  of  Massachusetts,  afterward  sen 
ator  from  Maine,  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  bill  could  be  so 
worded  as  to  be  "  unobjectionable  "  to  any  one.  The  nature 
of  slave  property,  its  evils,  and  the  rights  of  its  possessors  were 
stated,  defined,  and  illustrated  by  Mr.  Clay.  Mr.  Baldwin  of 
Pennsylvania,  a  native  of  Connecticut,  a  lawyer  of  eminence, 


76          KISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

and  afterward  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  maintained  that 
the  Constitution  conferred  upon  Congress  the  power  so  to  legis 
late  as  to  afford  the  fullest  protection  to  the  holders  of  slaves. 
The  amendment  proposed  by  Mr.  Fuller  was  rejected. 

It  was  then  moved  by  Mr.  Rich  to  recommit  the  bill  to  the 
committee  to  which  was  referred  the  memorial  of  the  Quakers 
of  Baltimore,  to  report  such  action  as  would  protect  the  free 
people  of  color.  The  motion  to  recommit  was  defeated  without 
a  division.  John  Sergeant  of  Pennsylvania,  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  advocates  and  statesmen  of  that  day,  then  moved 
to  amend  the  bill  by  empowering  the  judges  of  the  State  in 
which  the  person  should  be  arrested,  rather  than  the  judges  of 
the  State  from  which  it  was  alleged  he  had  escaped,  to  deter 
mine  whether  such  person  owed  service  or  labor.  But  this 
amendment  was  defeated  by  a  large  majority.  Mr.  Rich  offered 
several  other  amendments  to  guard  the  rights  of  freemen,  but 
they  were  rejected.  It  was  then,  by  a  large  majority,  ordered 
to  a  third  reading. 

The  passage  of  the  bill  was  strenuously  opposed  by  Benjamin 
Adams  of  Massachusetts,  because  it  contained  provisions  "  dan 
gerous  to  liberty  and  to  the  safety  of  free  persons  of  color  "  ; 
and  Mr.  Livermore  of  New  Hampshire  opposed  it  because  it 
provided  that  alleged  fugitives  were  not  to  be  identified  until 
they  reached  the  State  where  the  persons  claiming  them  re 
sided.  This  provision  would  expose  free  persons  of  color  to  be 
dragged  from  one  part  of  the  country  to  another.  Jonathan 
Mason  of  Massachusetts  —  who  had  served  in  the  Senate  from 
1800  to  1803,  and  who,  though  a  Federalist,  had  been  elected 
to  the  House  over  Mr.  Ritchie,  son-in-law  of  Harrison  Gray 
Otis,  by  a  few  Federalists  and  by  the  Democratic  party,  and 
who  afterward  betrayed  his  constituents  by  voting  for  the  Mis 
souri  Compromise  —  spoke  at  length  in  approval  of  the  meas 
ure.  He  thought  the  tribunals  of  the  South  would  decide  more 
correctly  than  those  of  the  North.  So  great  was  the  leaning 
against  slavery  in  Massachusetts,  that  in  ninety-nine  cases  out 
of  a  hundred  juries  would  decide  in  favor  of  the  fugitive.  He 
did  not  wish,  by  denying  just  facilities  for  the  recovery  of  fugi 
tive  slaves,  to  have  the  town  where  he  lived  "  infested  with  the 
runaways  of  the  South." 


THE  FUGITIVE   SLAVE  ACT   OF   1793.  77 

He  was  sustained  by  John  Holmes,  who  did  not  think  it 
"  competent  in  Massachusetts  to  try  a  question  between  a 
Southern  master  and  his  slave,"  and  he  expressed  the  opin 
ion  that  the  freedom  of  no  man  in  the  North  would  be  affected 
by  the  passage  of  the  bill.  Mr.  Storrs  of  New  York  followed, 
and  expressed  his  pleasure  at  the  liberality  manifested ;  and 
he  hoped  to  see  more  of  it  displayed  by  gentlemen  from  the 
North,  as  an  assurance  that  they  "  were  willing  to  sacrifice 
some  old  prejudices  to  the  spirit  of  harmony  and  mutual  bene 
fit."  Mr.  Whitman  of  Massachusetts  denied  the  authority  of 
Congress  to  compel  State  officers  to  perform  the  duty  of  arrest 
ing  and  returning  fugitive  slaves,  and  Mr.  Williams  of  Con 
necticut  opposed  that  provision  under  which  a  freeman  might 
be  dragged  to  another  part  of  the  country,  and  have  his  liberty 
endangered,  if  not  destroyed.  "  In  attempting,"  he  said,  "  to 
guard  the  rights  of  property  to  one  class  of  citizens,  it  was  un 
just  that  the  rights  of  another  class  should  be  put  in  jeopardy." 
The  bill  was  then  passed  by  fifteen  majority. 

In  the  Senate  it  was  referred  to  a  committee,  of  which  John 
J.  Crittenden  of  Kentucky  was  chairman.  He  reported  it  with 
amendments.  The  question  was  debated  with  much  earnest 
ness.  Mr.  Smith  of  South  Carolina  spok;e  in  its  advocacy, 
and  sharply  criticised  the  action  of  the  Northern  States.  Mr. 
Morrill  of  New  Hampshire  spoke  at  length  in  opposition  to  its 
provisions  ;  and  it  was  also  strongly  opposed  by  Mr.  Roberts 
of  Pennsylvania  and  by  Mr.  Burrill  of  Rhode  Island.  It 
passed  by  four  majority,  —  Mr.  Otis  of  Massachusetts,  Mr. 
Sanford  of  New  York,  and  Mr.  Taylor  of  Indiana,  voting  for 
it ;  Mr.  Horsey  and  Mr.  Van  Dyke,  representing  the  slave  State 
of  Delaware,  voting  against  it.  It  went  back  to  the  House  for 
concurrence  in  amendments,  and,  though  efforts  were  made 
to  take  it  up,  it  was  suffered  to  lie  on  the  table.  Northern 
members  who  had  voted  for  it  began  to  be  alarmed  at  their 
own  inconsiderate  action,  and  shrank  from  the  consummation 
of  that  cruel  measure. 

Four  years  afterward,  in  1821,  Mr.  Wright  of  Maryland  in 
troduced  a  resolution  into  the  House  of  Representatives  for  the 
appointment  of  a  committee  to  consider  the  expediency  of  pro- 


78          RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

viding  by  law  more  effectually  to  secure  the  rendition  of  fugi 
tive  slaves.  He  warmly  deprecated  the  interference  of  Quak 
ers  and  others  to  prevent  their  reclamation,  and  significantly 
hinted  that,  if  effectual  means  were  not  taken  to  secure  the 
rights  of  Southern  States,  they  might  be  driven  to  take  up  arms 
in  support  of  their  rights.  The  House,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Camp 
bell  of  Pennsylvania,  referred  the  resolution  to  the  Judiciary 
Committee,  and  a  bill  was  reported.  It  was  moved  by  Mr. 
Colden  of  New  York  so  to  amend  it  as  to  limit  the  power  ex 
ercised  under  it  to  judges  of  courts  of  record.  It  was  main 
tained  that  the  law  of  1793  was  "  inadequate,"  and  a  bill  was 
"  indispensably  necessary."  Mr.  Colden  then  withdrew  his 
proposed  amendment,  and  moved  as  a  test  question  to  strike 
out  the  enacting  clause.  He  declared  that  he  was  "  not  one 
of  those  visionary  philanthropists  who  would  contend  for  im 
mediate  and  universal  emancipation,"  but  he  believed  the  bill 
inconsistent  with  the  principles  of  liberty,  and  would  have  a 
direct  agency  in  promoting  the  traffic  of  selling  free  blacks  for 
slaves  which  had  been  carried  on  to  a  great  extent.  On  motion 
of  Francis  Johnson  of  Kentucky  the  bill  was  recommitted  to 
a  select  committee,  and  again  reported  back  with  amendments  ; 
but  no  action  thereupon  was  taken.  Efforts  to  secure  a  law 
more  stringent  than  the  act  of  1793  were  continued,  however, 
till  they  were  crowned  with  success  in  the  inhuman  act  of 
1850. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE   SLATE-TRADE.  —  ITS  PROHIBITION. 

Increase  of  the  Slave-trade.  —  Memorial  of  the  National  Convention  of  Abolition 
Societies.  —  Bill  reported  by  Mr.  Trambull  and  passed.  —  Memorial  of  Penn 
sylvania  Quakers  against  the  Ee-enslavement  of  Emancipated  Negroes  in  North 
Carolina.  —  Exciting  Debate.  —  Mr.  Sitgreaves'  Eeport  adopted.  —  Mr.  Hill- 
house's  Bill  amendatory  of  the  Slave-trade  Act  of  1794.  — Senate  Bill  referred 
to  a  Select  Committee  in  the  House.  —  Reported  with  Amendments  and  passed. 
—  President  Jefferson  recommends  the  Prohibition  of  the  Slave-trade.  —  A 
Bill  reported  and  passed  in  the  Senate.  —  A  Bill  reported  in  the  House.  —  A 
Debate  thereon.  —  Mr.  Sloan's  Amendment.  —  Mr.  Early's  Threat.  —  Mr. 
Sloan's  Amendment  defeated.  —  Mr.  Bidwell's  Amendment.  —  Death  Penalty 
proposed  by  Mr.  Smilie.  —  Death  Penalty  defeated.  —  Bill  recommitted.  — 
Bill  reported.  —  Laid  on  the  Table.  —  Senate  Bill  taken  up,  amended,  and 
passed.  —  Mr.  Randolph's  Defiance.  —  Further  Legislation  demanded. 

THE  compromises  of  the  Constitution,  by  which  the  slave- 
trade  was  allowed  to  continue  till  1808,  breathed  new  life  into 
that  odious  traffic.  The  moral  obligation  and  restraining  force 
imposed  by  the  early  action  of  the  Continental  Congress  in 
prohibiting  that  traffic  were  greatly  weakened  or  neutralized 
by  this  constitutional  provision.  Many  who,  in  the  fervor  of 
the  Revolutionary  struggle,  readily  indorsed  that  noble  action 
were  now  led,  if  they  did  not  engage  in  the  odious  traffic 
themselves,  to  countenance  those  who  were  involved  in  it. 
The  rapid  growth  of  the  country  under  the  new  government, 
the  opening  of  fresh  lands  for  settlement,  and  the  increasing 
demand  for  Southern  products,  enhanced  the  price  of  slaves 
and  stimulated  the  hateful  trade.  The  ports  of  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia  were  opened  wide  to  welcome  cargoes  of  newly 
enslaved  Africans.  The  prohibitory  laws  of  the  States  were 
weakened  or  rendered  nugatory  by  selfish  interests ;  and 
Northern  capital,  ships,  sailors,  and  merchants  shared  in  the 
profits  and  in  "  the  contamination  of  a  traffic  at  which  every 
feeling  of  humanity  must  forever  revolt." 


80          RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

On  the  first  day  of  January,  1794,  a  convention  of  delegates 
of  abolition  societies  was  held  at  Philadelphia.  Ten  States 
were  represented.  General  Joseph  Bloomfield  of  New  Jersey, 
afterward  governor  of  that  State,  and  a  general  in  the  War  of 
1812,  presided.  It  recommended  the  institution  of  annual  dis 
courses  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  and  also  an  annual  conven 
tion  of  delegates  of  abolition  societies.  It  also  sent  forth  an 
address  to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  from  the  pen  of 
that  distinguished  physician,  philanthropist,  and  statesman,  Dr. 
Benjamin  Rush. 

A  memorial,  signed  by  the  president  of  the  convention,  was 
presented  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  praying  Congress  to 
pass  a  law  to  prohibit  the  traffic  carried  on  by  American  citi 
zens  to  supply  slaves  to  foreign  nations,  and  to  prevent  foreign 
ers  from  fitting  out  vessels  in  this  country  for  the  African  slave- 
trade.  This  memorial,  a  petition  of  the  Quakers  at  the  Yearly 
Meeting,  and  also  one  from  the  Providence  Society  for  the  abo 
lition  of  the  slave-trade,  were  referred  to  a  committee  of  five, 
of  which  Mr.  Trumbull  of  Connecticut,  who  had  been  Speaker 
of  the  House  during  the  preceding  Congress,  was  chairman. 
A  bill  was  reported  from  this  committee  which,  after  being  so 
amended  as  to  insert  the  word  "  foreign  "  before  the  word  "  ship," 
or  "  vessel,"  was  passed.  When  it  reached  the  Senate,  an  unsuc 
cessful  motion  for  postponement  was  made,  and  it  passed  that 
body. 

In  November,  1797,  Mr.  Gallatin  of  Pennsylvania  pre 
sented  to  the  House  of  Representatives  a  memorial  of  the 
Quakers  of  that  State,  setting  forth  that  one  hundred  and 
thirty-four  slaves  made  free  by  the  members  of  that  society  in 
North  Carolina  had  been  reduced  to  slavery  again  by  retroac 
tive  laws.  The  memorialists  pronounced  that  act  "  an  abom 
inable  tragedy,  tending  to  bring  down  the  righteous  judgments 
of  Almighty  God  upon  the  land."  They  also  called  the  atten 
tion  of  Congress  to  the  "  solemn  league  and  covenant  made 
with  the  Almighty,"  by  which  the  first  Continental  Congress, 
in  1774,  decreed  that  they  would  neither  import  slaves  nor 
purchase  slaves  imported  by  others.  They  represented  that 
this  solemn  covenant  had  been  contravened  by  the  cruelties 


THE  SLAVE-TRADE.  —  ITS   PROHIBITION.  81 

and  wrongs  practised  on  the  colored  race  ;  and  they  prayed 
Congress  by  timely  and  adequate  legislation  to  redress  these 
wrongs  and  cause  these  cruelties  to  cease. 

A  sharp  debate  at  once  sprang  up,  in  which,  though  the  gen 
eral  geographical  divisions  of  sentiment  on  the  subject  of  slav 
ery  appear,  which  generally  obtained  through  the  long  struggle 
with  increasing  distinctness  till  its  close,  there  were  yet  many 
and  marked  exceptions  in  which  the  most  hard  and  heartless 
opinions  fell  from  Northern  lips,  and  generous  and  humane 
sentiments  were  clearly  pronounced  by  some  men  from  the 
South.  Robert  Goodloe  Harper,  one  of  the  most  eminent  pub 
lic  men  of  that  day,  and  then  a  representative  from  South 
Carolina,  led  off  in  the  opposition.  He  thought  that  Congress 
and  the  State  legislatures  should  set  their  faces  against  "  re 
monstrances  complaining  of  what  it  was  utterly  impossible  to 
alter." 

Mr.  Rutledge  of  the  same  State,  who  had  been  nominated 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  but 
who  had  been  rejected  by  the  Senate,  thought  the  Quakers 
ought  to  be  censured  by  a  report  of  the  committee.  He  avowed 
that  they  were  a  set  of  men  who  attempted  to  seduce  the  ser 
vants  of  gentlemen  travelling  to  the  seat  of  government,  and 
were  constantly  importuning  Congress  to  interfere  in  a  business 
with  which  it  had  no  concern.  Mr.  Macon  of  North  Carolina, 
who  served  more  than  thirty  years  in  Congress,  was  Speaker 
of  the  House,  and  President  pro  tern,  of  the  Senate,  petulantly 
remarked  that  the  Quakers,  "  instead  of  being  peace-makers, 
were  war-makers,"  as  they  were  continually  endeavoring  in  the 
Southern  States  to  "  stir  up  insurrection  among  the  negroes." 
Expressing  himself  sarcastically  or  very  unreasonably,  he  said 
it  was  extraordinary  that  the  Quakers  should  come,  session 
after  session,  with  their  petitions  ;  for,  if  they  were  dissatisfied 
with  the  laws  of  North  Carolina,  they  had  only  to  transfer  their 
negroes  to  Pennsylvania,  where  they  would  be  immediately  set 
free.  Even  Mr.  Sewell  of  Massachusetts,  afterward  Chief  Jus 
tice  of  its  Supreme  Court,  denied  that  Congress  could  furnish 
redress  to  the  re-enslaved  freemen,  since  it  could  not  change 
the  law  of  North  Carolina. 
11 


82          RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  reference  of  the  memorial  was  advo 
cated  by  Mr.  Thatcher  of  Massachusetts,  whose  twelve  years 
in  Congress,  from  1789  to  1801,  were  years  of  undeviating 
devotion  to  freedom.  He  maintained  that,  if  the  Quakers 
thought  themselves  aggrieved,  it  was  their  duty  to  present 
their  petitions  "  three,  five,  or  seventy  times,"  until  their 
grievances  were  redressed.  Mr.  Swanwick  of  Pennsylvania 
expressed  the  opinion  that  the  uncommon  warmth  which  was 
shown  led  many  persons  to  believe  that  gentlemen  were  un 
willing  to  have  such  matters  looked  into.  Mr.  Gallatin 
scouted  the  idea  that  the  petition  would  shake  the  property 
of  the  country,  when  it  was  only  a  paper  reminding  them  of 
certain  black  men,  not  slaves,  but  freemen.  Mr.  Allen  of 
Connecticut  trusted  the  petition  would  not  be  rejected,  as  its 
rejection  would  be  highly  disrespectful  to  a  society  revered  by 
every  man  who  sets  a  value  on  virtue  and  integrity.  Mr.  Liv 
ingston  of  New  York,  afterward  General  Jackson's  Secretary 
of  State,  said  that,  if  the  petitioners  were  of  the  description 
represented,  —  if  they  had  endeavored  to  raise  insurrection  in 
one  part  of  the  country  and  practise  robbery  in  another,  —  he 
should  not  be  inclined  to  pay  much  respect  to  them. 

Thus  the  debate  ran  on,  revealing  rather  the  individuality, 
interests,  and  associations  of  the  different  participants  than 
the  well-matured  convictions  and  formally  accepted,  positions 
of  either  persons  or  parties  in  the  strife.  In  new  and  untried 
circumstances  they  were  evidently  grappling  with  a  question 
they  did  not  fully  understand,  whose  height  and  depth,  length 
and  breadth,  they  did  but  imperfectly  comprehend.  If  they  did 
not  jump  at  conclusions,  evidently  much  that  was  said  in  that 
debate  was  rather  the  utterance  of  first  impressions  than  of 
well-reasoned  deductions,  carefully  drawn  from  a  patient  and 
thorough  examination. 

Thus  Mr.  Parker  of  Massachusetts,  afterward  Chief  Justice 
of  that  State,  opposed  the  reference  of  the  petition  because  it 
asked  Congress  to  act  upon  a  subject  on  which  it  had  no 
power  to  act ;  while  Mr.  Bayard,  a  lawyer  of  great  eminence 
from  Delaware,  declared  that  he  was  warranted  in  saying  that 
the  Constitution  gave  the  House  jurisdiction  over  the  matter 


THE   SLAVE-TRADE.  —  ITS   PROHIBITION.  83 

of  the  re-enslavement  of  those  made  free  by  their  masters, 
for  "  no  State  had  the  right  to  make  ex  post  facto  laws." 
Josiah  Parker  of  Virginia  insolently  remarked  that  he  would 
consent  to  the  petition's  lying  on  the  table  or  under  the  table. 
Much  more  reasonably  and  frankly  did  Mr.  Nicholas  of  the 
same  State  declare  that  it  would  be  for  the  honor  of  people 
holding  slaves  to  look  into  the  matter,  as  "it  was  not  for  the 
interest  of  slaveholders  to  cover  improper  practices."  He 
should,  indeed,  be  sorry  if  his  possessing  property  of  that  kind 
obliged  him  to  cover  the  violation  of  another  man's  rights. 

Mr.  Gordon  of  New  Hampshire  saw  nothing  in  the  memo 
rial  calling  for  the  interference  of  Congress.  Gentlemen  were 
reminded  by  Mr.  Thatcher  that,  while  they  were  opposing  the 
reading  of  the  memorial,  they  were  filing  off  in  squads  and 
fighting  to  get  a  sight  of  it.  Mr.  Smith  of  Maryland  coolly 
said  that  the  laws  of  Virginia  permitting  emancipation  by  the 
masters  made  the  slaves  of  neighboring  States  unhappy  and 
gave  their  masters  considerable  uneasiness.  The  memorial 
was  then  referred  to  a  committee  of  five,  of  which  Mr.  Sit- 
greaves  of  Pennsylvania  was  chairman.  After  several  confer 
ences  with  the  memorialists,  and  a  careful  examination  of  the 
subject,  the  committee  reported  it  as  their  opinion  that  it  was 
strictly  a  judicial  question,  with  which  Congress,  as  a  legisla 
tive  body,  could  not  legitimately  intermeddle.  Though  Mr. 
Rutledge  and  Mr.  Thatcher  expressed  themselves  dissatisfied 
with  the  report,  it  was  adopted  by  a  large  majority. 

The  act  of  1794,  to  prevent  the  fitting  out  of  vessels  in  the 
ports  of  the  United  States  engaged  in  supplying  slaves  to 
foreigners,  did  not  accomplish  the  purpose  intended.  Further 
legislation  was  demanded.  Accordingly,  near  the  close  of  the 
year  1799,  Mr.  Hillhouse  of  Connecticut  moved  in  the  Senate 
for  the  appointment  of  a  committee  for  the  revision  of  the 
law.  The  motion  being  adopted,  a  committee  of  three,  con 
sisting  of  himself,  Dexter  of  Massachusetts,  and  Read  of 
Delaware,  were  appointed,  who  reported  a  bill  which  was 
passed. 

Near  the  close  of  April,  1800,  the  House  proceeded  to  the 
consideration  of  the  bill  received  from  the  Senate.  In  the 


84          RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

debate  which  followed  New  England  found  little  occasion  for 
complacency  when  she  compared  the  utterances  of  one  of  her 
representatives,  John  Brown  of  Rhode  Island,  with  those  of 
the  representatives  of  Virginia  and  Delaware.  Making  the 
extraordinary  declaration  that  it  was  improper  to  prevent  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States  from  participating  in  a  trade 
enjoyed  by  all  European  nations,  Mr.  Brown  said  he  well 
knew  that  Congress  was  drilled  into  passing  the  previous  act 
by  the  well-known  abolition  society,  otherwise  the  Society  of 
Friends,  who  were  "  very  troublesome  till  they  got  the  act 
passed."  He  thought  it  poor  policy  to  prevent  a  trade  allowed 
to  be  profitable  ;  and  it  ought  to  be  considered  wrong,  in  a 
moral  point  of  view,  to  prevent  it,  as  the  people  themselves 
profited  by  it.  It  ought  to  be  a  matter  of  national  policy,  as 
it  would  bring  in  a  revenue  to  the  treasury.  Avowing  such 
sentiments,  he  was,  of  course,  in  favor  of  postponing  the  fur 
ther  consideration  of  the  measure. 

In  striking  contrast  with  these  heartless  and  immoral  sen 
timents  were  those  of  Mr.  Nicholas  of  Virginia,  who  said 
that,  as  a  Southern  man,  he  was  obliged,  in  common  with  the 
people  of  the  South,  to  keep  men  in  a  state  of  slavery ;  but 
they  were  endeavoring  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  that  race. 
Mr.  Bayard  agreed  with  Mr.  Brown  that  the  government  could 
derive  a  large  revenue  from  the  support  of  the  slave-trade, 
but  he  thought  "  a  more  dishonorable  item  of  revenue  could 
not  be  imagined."  He  pronounced  the  bill,  however,  ex 
tremely  imperfect,  and  moved  its  reference  to  a  select  com 
mittee.  This  motion,  though  opposed  by  Mr.  Rutledge,  was 
adopted  ;  the  bill  was  recommitted,  reported  back  with  amend 
ments,  and  adopted,  —  only  five  voting  against  it.  The  Senate 
promptly  concurred  in  the  amendments,  and  it  became  a  law. 

Among  the  consequences  of  the  insurrection  and  revolution 
in  San  Domingo  were  the  violent  expulsion  and  expatriation 
of  large  numbers  of  the  defeated.  Among  them  were  negroes, 
who  sought  and  found  refuge  in  the  United  States.  The  pres 
ence  of  a  few  men  of  the  African  race  who  had  fought  for  lib 
erty  and  independence  aroused  alike  the  fears  and  passions 
of  the  slave-masters.  The  horrors  of  a  servile  insurrection 


THE   SLAVE-TRADE.  —  ITS   PROHIBITION.  85 

loomed  up  before  their  excited  imaginations  ;  and  those  who 
saw  thousands  of  slaves  imported  into  South  Carolina  and  other 
Southern  States,  with  no  compunctions  of  conscience  or  solici 
tude  as  to  the  result,  were  greatly  alarmed  and  their  zeal  was 
greatly  quickened  by  the  arrival  of  a  few  black  men  from  San 
Domingo  with  minds  inflamed  by  dreams  of  liberty.  Legisla 
tion  was  demanded.  Memorials  were  presented  from  North 
Carolina,  setting  forth  the  dangers  to  the  Southern  States  from 
the  immigration  of  this  class  of  persons.  These  memorials 
were  referred  to  a  committee,  of  which  Mr.  Hill  of  that  State 
was  chairman.  He  reported  a  bill  in  January,  1803,  forbid 
ding  under  severe  penalties  the  coming  of  such  persons,  already 
forbidden  by  the  laws  of  several  of  the  States. 

This  advanced  position  and  new  demand,  made  in  the  inter 
ests  of  slavery,  excited  both  opposition  and  alarm,  which  would 
have  been  largely  increased  had  their  full  significance  and  bear 
ing  been  clearly  comprehended.  Mr:  Bacon  of  Massachusetts 
was  dissatisfied  with  the  principles  involved  in  that  measure. 
He  emphatically  declared  that  he  was  not  to  be  "  intimidated 
by  a  personal  reflection  or  affected  sneers,  nor  yet  by  any  inhu 
man  threats  that  can  be  uttered  to  supply  the  place  of  manly 
discussion."  He  avowed  that  the  proposed  measure  made 
discriminations  between  citizens  of  the  United  States ;  that 
such  citizens  could  not,  for  the  purposes  of  commerce  or  in 
case  of  distress,  enter  the  ports  of  particular  States,  or  sail 
along  their  coasts,  without  subjecting  themselves  to  the  severe 
penalties  of  the  bill.  He  further  declared  that  it  made  the 
same  discrimination  between  citizens  of  particular  States  as 
between  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Mott  of  New  Jersey  objected  to  it  on  the  ground  of  its 
unconstitutionality.  Mr.  Mitchell  of  New  York  moved  its  re 
commitment  for  the  purpose  of  amendment;  which  motion 
was  supported  by  several  members,  on  the  ground  of  its  alleged 
unconstitutionality,  and  because  it  abridged  the  rights  of  the 
colored  citizens  of  some  of  the  States  by  prohibiting  their  en 
trance  into  certain  States,  under  the  severe  penalties  of  a  fine 
of  a  thousand  dollars  and  the  forfeiture  of  the  vessel  carrying 
them.  This  recommitment  was  strenuously  opposed  by  Hill, 


86          RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

Early,  and  Randolph,  who  acknowledged  that  "  its  penalties 
were  rigorous,  but  were  only  such  as  the  imminent  danger  of 
the  Southern  States  called  for."  Though  the  motion  for  a  recom 
mitment  was  lost,  another  motion,  by  Mr.  Nicholson  of  Mary 
land,  to  recommit  to  a  select  committee  was  carried  by  a  small 
majority.  Being  reported  in  a  new  draft,  with  some  modifi 
cations,  it  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  three  to  one.  In  the 
Senate  it  was  referred  to  a  committee,  which  reported  it 
without  amendments,  and  it  became  a  law,  inhuman  as  it 
was,  and  inherently  opposed  to  the  then  loudly  vaunted  doc 
trine  of  human  rights  and  to  the  fundamental  principles  of 
the  newly  established  republican  institutions. 

In  1803  South  Carolina  repealed  her  law  prohibiting  the  im 
portation  of  slaves.  This  action  was  deeply  regretted  by  most 
of  her  sister  States,  both  on  account  of  its  intrinsic  wrongful- 
ness  and  inhumanity,  and  because  it  plainly  revealed  the  drift 
of  her  public  sentiment  to  be,  not  toward  the  amelioration  and 
speedy  extinction  of  slavery,  as  expected  and  predicted  by  the  au 
thors  of  the  compromises  of  the  Constitution,  but  rather  a  stride 
in  the  opposite  direction.  To  check  and  discourage  this  in 
iquitous  traffic,  early  in  January,  1804,  Mr.  Bard  of  Pennsyl 
vania  introduced  a  resolution  imposing  a  tax  of  ten  dollars  on 
every  slave  imported.  The  House  did  not  proceed  to  its  con 
sideration  until  the  middle  of  the  next  month,  when  Mr. 
Lowndes  of  South  Carolina  led  off  in  the  debate,  which,  like 
the  previous  discussion,  revealed  what  seemed  to  be  crude  and 
hastily  formed  opinions,  rather  than  the  matured  and  sharply 
defined  argumentation  of  men  who  had  long  studied  and  delib 
erately  chosen  the  one  or  the  other  of  the  two  sides  of  a  mooted 
question.  He  opposed  the  tax  because,  while  it  would  not  pre 
vent  the  importation  of  a  single  slave,  the  fact  of  the  govern 
ment's  deriving  a  revenue  from  it  could  be  viewed  in  no  other 
light  than  a  sanction  of  the  traffic.  Though  opposed  to  the 
slave-trade  himself,  he  admitted  that  the  Southern  people  felt  a 
deep  interest  in  it,  and  that  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana,  then 
just  made,  would  strengthen  that  interest.  Mr.  Bedinger  of 
Kentucky  thought  such  a  law  would  rather  sanction  than 
discourage  the  trade  ;  and  Mr.  Macon,  Speaker  of  the  House, 


THE   SLAVE-TRADE.  —  ITS  PROHIBITION.  87 

opposed  it  as  an  impolitic  measure.  Roger  Griswold  of  Con 
necticut,  a  gentleman  of  large  capacity  and  great  influence  in 
the  Federal  party,  declared  his  abhorrence  of  the  slave-trade  ; 
but  he  opposed  the  tax  because  it  would  appear  to  the  world 
that  Congress  was  raising  a  revenue  from  "  a  commerce  in 
slaves." 

Mr.  Bard,  however,  spoke  earnestly  in  favor  of  his  resolution, 
and  maintained  that  the  tax  proposed  was  designed  to  inter 
pose  every  discouragement  to  the  importation  of  slaves,  and 
was  supported  only  incidentally  as  a  source  of  revenue.  It  was 
also  eloquently  supported  by  Mr.  Mitchell  of  New  York,  who 
reminded  the  House  that  in  various  parts  of  the  country  outfits 
were  made  for  slave  voyages  without  secrecy,  shame,  or  appre 
hension  ;  that,  countenanced  by  their  fellow-citizens,  who  were 
as  willing  to  buy  slaves  as  they  were  to  collect  and  bring  them 
to  market,  merciless  men,  as  greedy  as  the  sharks  of  the  ele 
ment  on  which  they  sailed,  "  clandestinely  embarked  the  sooty 
offspring  of  the  Eastern  for  the  ill-fated  soil  of  the  Western 
hemisphere."  He  estimated  that  during  the  preceding  year 
twenty  thousand  enslaved  negroes  had  been  added,  by  smug 
gling,  to  the  plantation  stock  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina. 

Mr.  Stanton  of  Rhode  Island,  in  a  similar  strain,  expressed 
his  gratification  to  find  honorable  members  in  every  part  of 
the  House  who  "  reprobate  the  infamous  traffic  of  buying  and 
selling  the  human  species."  It  was  not  his  intention  to  crim 
inate  South  Carolina,  whose  late  conduct  had  created  serious 
and  well-founded  alarm  ;  but  he  could  not  "  connive  at  a  meas 
ure  that  goes  to  shake  the  pillars  of  public  security,  threatens 
corruption  to  the  morals  of  our  citizens,  and  tarnishes  the 
American  character."  Mr.  Southard  of  New  Jersey  rejoiced 
at  the  introduction  of  the  resolution,  because  "  it  gave  the  na 
tional  legislature  an  opportunity  to  hear  their  opinions  against 
the  increase  of  slaves."  Even  a  South  Carolina  representative, 
Mr.  Thomas  Moore,  though  he  opposed  the  tax,  expressed 
the  hope  that  the  House  would  discourage  the  impolitic  act  of 
his  State  by  enacting  a  law  expressive  of  its  disapprobation. 

There  were  others,  however,  more  pronounced  in  their 
opposition  to  the  resolution  because  it  was  introduced  in  the 


88          RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

interests  of  freedom.  Thus  Mr.  Huger  of  South  Carolina 
maintained  that  the  Constitution  was  "  the  offspring  of  con 
cession  and  compromise,"  that  under  it  South  Carolina  enjoyed 
"  the  exclusive  right  of  judging  of  the  propriety  of  allowing 
the  trade  or  prohibiting  it "  ;  and  he  felt  sensibly  the  singling 
out  of  his  State  for  censure  for  doing  what  she  had  a  right  to 
do.  He  emphatically  asserted  that  the  people  of  the  North, 
"  who  make  the  most  noise  upon  the  subject,  are  those  who, 
when  they  go  to  the  South,  first  hire,  then  buy,  and,  last  of  all, 
turn  out  the  severest  masters  among  us."  This  ill-natured 
criticism  was  undoubtedly  then,  and  has  been  unquestionably 
since,  too  true.  Of  a  similar  spirit  were  the  remarks  of  Mr. 
Eppes  of  Virginia,  son-in-law  of  President  Jefferson,  who 
said  that  he  lived  in  a  State  where  slaves  were  as  much  the 
subject  of  taxation  as  lands ;  but  he  did  not  know  that  the 
statute-books  of  Virginia  were  stained  by  imposing  taxes  upon 
them.  According  to  some  estimates,  one  hundred  thousand 
slaves  would  be  imported  in  four  years.  Accordingly,  a 
revenue  of  a  million  of  dollars  would  accrue  therefrom.  Mr. 
Early  moved  its  postponement  till  the  first  Monday  of  May ; 
and  his  motion  was  supported  by  Gregg  of  Pennsylvania, 
Lyon  of  Kentucky,  and  Huger.  But  it  failed,  and  the  resolu 
tion  was  adopted  by  a  large  majority,  and  referred  to  the  Com 
mittee  of  Ways  and  Means,  which  immediately  reported  a  bill. 
Mr.  Lowndes  moved  that  its  consideration  be  postponed  till 
the  first  day  of  December,  which  was  opposed  by  Mr.  Eppes, 
and  supported  by  Mr.  Jackson ;  but  it  failed  of  securing  the 
necessary  vote,  though  subsequently  a  motion  of  Mr.  Findley 
to  postpone  to  the  second  Monday  of  March  prevailed  by  a 
majority  of  six. 

During  the  debate  Mr.  Rodney  of  Delaware  expressed  his 
gratification  that  "  so  inhuman  a  practice  was  justly  repro 
bated  by  all."  He  said  that  every  gentleman  from  the  South 
as  well  as  the  East  deprecated  the  act  of  South  Carolina.  But 
he  was  in  favor  of  delaying  action  till  the  sentiment  of  that 
State  could  be  ascertained.  "  No  man,"  he  said,  "  can  ascribe 
to  me  a  friendship  for  slavery.  I  have  been  uniformly  and 
warmly  opposed  to  it.  To  blot  it  out  of  the  pages  of  our 


THE   SLAVE-TKADE.  —  ITS   PROHIBITION.  89 

country  is  one  of  the  objects  nearest  my  heart.  In  my  own 
State  I  have  hitherto  maintained  an  unequal  conflict  on  this 
subject.  But  great  is  the  force  of  truth,  and  it  will  prevail." 
Little  did  this  distinguished  son  of  Delaware  then  imagine 
that  his  State  would,  when  the  trial  came,  be  among  the  most 
persistent  in  opposition  to  the  policy  of  emancipation.  Mr. 
Elmer  of  New  Jersey  advocated  the  passage  of  the  measure, 
because  it  was  predicated  on  a  sound  principle  of  morality  and 
economy.  The  bill,  however,  never  came  to  a  vote,  owing  to 
the  pressure  of  the  representatives  from  South  Carolina,  to 
allow  her  legislature  to  repeal  the  obnoxious  act.  But  she 
never  retraced  her  steps ;  and,  though  in  that  whole  debate 
not  one  word  of  apology  or  defence  was  raised  in  behalf  of 
her  disgraceful  action  and  position,  she  persisted  in  her  policy, 
and  the  infamous  traffic  was  vigorously  prosecuted  under  the 
sanction  of  her  laws. 

The  time  fixed  by  the  Constitution  empowering  Congress  to 
prohibit  the  African  slave-trade  was  approaching.  Mr.  Jeffer 
son,  in  his  message  to  the  second  session  of  the  Ninth  Con 
gress,  in  1806,  thus  alluded  to  the  subject :  "  I  congratulate 
you,  fellow-citizens,  on  the  approach  of  a  period  at  which  you 
may  interpose  your  authority  constitutionally  to  withdraw  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States  from  all  participation  in  the  vio 
lation  of  human  rights  which  has  been  so  long  continued  on 
the  unoffending  inhabitants  of  Africa,  and  which  the  morality, 
the  reputation,  and  the  best  interests  of  the  country  have  long 
been  eager  to  prescribe.  Although  no  law  you  can  pass  can 
take  prohibitory  effect  until  the  first  day  of  the  year  1808,  yet 
the  intervening  period  is  not  too  long  to  prevent,  by  timely 
notice,  expeditions  which  cannot  be  completed  before  that 
day." 

The  subject,  however,  like  everything  connected  with  slavery 
and  its  recognition  in  the  Constitution,  was  beset  with  difficul 
ties,  resulting  from  the  abnormal  state  of  affairs,  and  the  per 
tinacity  of  the  slaveholders  against  any  legislation  which 
threatened  to  interfere  with  their  system.  Rightly  conclud 
ing  that  there  would  be  infractions  of  any  law  that  could  be 
framed  against  the  horrible  but  profitable  traffic,  it  was,  of 

12 


90          RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

course,  needful  to  affix  penalties  against  its  violation,  and 
make  some  disposition  of  the  victims  found  in  the  hands  of 
the  guilty  men  who  might  be  detected  in  that  violation. 
These  two  points  were  the  subjects  of  special  interest,  as 
they  became  the  themes  of  much  angry  discussion. 

So  much  of  the  President's  message  as  related  to  the  pro 
hibition  of  the  slave-trade  was  referred  to  a  select  committee, 
of  which  Mr.  Early  of  Georgia  was  chairman.  A  bill,  too, 
was  promptly  introduced  into  the  Senate,  to  prevent  the  im 
portation  of  slaves  after  the  1st  of  January,  1808.  It  was 
referred  to  a  committee,  of  which  Mr.  Bradley  of  Vermont 
was  chairman.  He  reported  it  back,  and  it  became  the  subject 
of  an  earnest  and  excited  debate  for  three  weeks,  when  it  was 
passed  and  sent  to  the  House.  A  similar  bill  had  been  reported 
in  that  body  by  Mr,  Early  on  the  15th  of  the  same  month.  It 
had  six  sections.  Among  them  was  one  making  it  unlawful 
to  import  any  person  of  color,  with  intent  to  keep  or  sell ; 
another,  forfeiting  to  the  United  States  any  person  so  im 
ported  ;  and  another  still,  imposing  the  forfeiture  of  vessels, 
and  fines  upon  persons  fitting  out  such  vessels.  In  the  long 
and  earnest  debate  which  followed  was  revealed  the  fact  that 
there  was  no  dissent  from  the  proposition  to  put  an  end  to 
the  odious  traffic.  Whether  from  motives  of  policy,  humanity, 
or  Christian  morality,  there  was  a  general  acquiescence  in 
the  prohibition.  The  questions  at  issue  were  concerning  the 
proper  penalties  to  be  prescribed,  and  the  proper  disposition 
to  be  made  of  any  Africans  who  might  be  imported  in  contra 
vention  of  the  law.  These  were  vehemently  and  passionately 
discussed.  The  slave-masters,  who  had  early  acquired  almost 
complete  ascendency  in  the  government,  seemed  determined 
that  their  cherished  system  should  receive  no  damage  from 
this  proposed  prohibition.  Whatever  else  might  follow,  slavery 
must  not  be  harmed.  The  debate,  however,  revealed  great 
diversity  of  views,  even  among  those  whose  purposes  were  in 
the  main  alike. 

Mr.  Sloan  of  New  Jersey,  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends, 
moved  to  amend  the  bill  by  inserting  after  the  word  "  for 
feited  "  the  words, "  and  such  person  or  slave  shall  be  entitled 


THE   SLAVE-TRADE.  —  ITS  PROHIBITION.  91 

to  his  freedom."  Mr.  Alston  of  North  Carolina  doubted  the 
power  of  Congress  to  free  slaves  imported  into  any  particular 
State  when  the  laws  directed  they  should  be  sold.  Mr.  Eppes 
moved  to  amend  the  amendment,  so  as  to  provide  that  the  for 
feiture  should  take  place  in  the  States  where  slavery  was  not 
permitted.  Mr.  Early  thought  there  was  an  absurdity  in  Mr. 
Sloan's  amendment,  providing  that  a  person  should  be  forfeited 
and  sold,  and  yet  should  be  free.  To  this  Mr.  Sloan  replied  that 
it  ought  to  be  the  object  of  the  bill  totally  to  prohibit  the  impor 
tation  of  slaves  into  the  United  States,  or  selling  them  therein. 

The  amendment  was  then  vehemently  opposed  by  Mr.  Early, 
who  declared  that  "  on  the  decision  of  this  question  would  turn 
another,  —  whether  the  government  would  now  prohibit  the 
slave-trade  or  not.  It  is  true,  if  we  pass  this  bill  as  it  stands, 
that  persons  imported  will  not  only  be  forfeited,  but  be  sold  as 
slaves,  and  be  afterward  kept  as  such.  This  is  a  melancholy 
truth,  —  melancholy  because  without  such  a  provision  we  can 
pass  no  law  that  can  be  effectual.  What  can  we  do  with  this 
description  of  persons,  in  case  they  are  brought  into  this 
country  in  contravention  of  this  act  ?  "  "I  am  not  prepared," 
said  Mr.  Smilie  of  Pennsylvania,  "  to  say  what  is  best  to  be 
done  ;  but  I  will  never  give  my  consent  to  the  last  section  of 
the  bill.  Shall  we,  while  we  are  attempting  to  put  a  stop  to 
this  traffic,  take  upon  ourselves  the  odium  of  being  slave- 
traders  ?  " 

The  Speaker,  Mr.  Macon,  expressed  the  opinion  that  the 
sentiment  was  unanimous  against  the  importation  of  slaves  ; 
but  he  confessed  that  there  were  grave  difficulties  in  the  way 
of  deciding  what  was  to  become  of  cargoes  imported.  Those 
persons  knew  nothing  about  the  country,  could  not  speak  its 
language,  and  he  desired  to  know  what  was  to  become  of  them. 
Mr.  Early,  after  saying  that  the  most  formidable  aspect  in 
which  this  question  could  present  itself  was  that  of  making 
them  free  in  slaveholding  communities,  emphatically  pro 
claimed  that,  if  they  were  turned  loose  "  upon  us,  we  must 
either  get  rid  of  them  or  they  of  us.  I  will  speak  out ;  it  is 
not  my  practice  to  be  mealy-mouthed  on  a  subject  of  impor 
tance.  Not  one  of  them  will  be  left  alive  in  a  year." 


92          RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

Mr.  Barker  of  Massachusetts  thought  the  illegally  imported 
Africans  should  be  made  free  and  returned  to  their  native  land  ; 
but  the  amendment  was  rejected,  only  nineteen  voting  for  it. 
Mr.  Bidwell  of  Massachusetts  having  moved  to  strike  out  the 
forfeiture  clause,  Mr.  Quincy  of  the  same  State  opposed  the 
motion,  remarking  that  this  afforded  the  only  way  by  which  the 
United  States  could  get  control  of  them.  If  they  were  im 
ported  into  the  South,  they  would  be  made  slaves ;  if  into  the 
North,  they  would  become  vagabonds.  Mr.  Williams  of  North 
Carolina  sneeringly  remarked  that  gentlemen  were  "  com 
pletely  hobbled,"  —  that  they  must  go  on  or  stick  where  they 
were.  Mr.  Pitkin  of  Connecticut  strongly  objected  to  forfeit 
ing  the  imported  Africans,  and  moved  to  recommit  the  bill  to 
a  select  committee.  The  motion  was  carried,  and  it  was  re 
committed  to  a  committee  of  seven,  of  which  Mr.  Early  was 
made  chairman.  Mr.  Smilie,  remarking  that  the  captain  of  a 
slave-ship  was  guilty  of  murder,  proposed  for  the  consideration 
of  the  select  committee  a  new  section,  providing  that  any  one 
duly  convicted  of  violating  the  law  should  suffer  death. 

When  the  debate  was  resumed,  Mr.  Findley  of  Pennsylvania 
advocated  the  binding  out  of  the  forfeited  negroes  for  a  term 
of  years.  Mr.  Bidwell  opposed  the  forfeiture  clause,  because 
it  proceeded  wholly  on  a  false  principle,  and  implied  that  the 
importer  had  a  right  to  his  slave.  As  to  the  question  what 
should  be  done  with  the  imported  Africans,  he  was  willing  to 
"  agree  to  any  practicable  method." 

Mr.  Quincy  made  a  long  and  very  able  speech.  He  regretted 
that  they  could  not  devise  some  plan  to  which  they  all  might 
assent ;  and  he  thought  it  might  be  effected  "  if  gentlemen 
would  come  down  from  their  high  abstract  ground  to  the  level 
of  things  in  their  actual  state."  Alluding  to  the  assertion  that 
the  African  prince  and  the  slave-trader  could  acquire  no  right 
of  property  in  the  captive  prisoner  of  the  former,  or  in  the  pur 
chased  slaves  of  the  latter,  he  said :  "  Their  conclusions  are 
correct ;  their  principles  are  solid.  Refer  the  claim  of  either 
to  five  hundred  juries  of  New  England,  and  five  hundred  ver 
dicts  would  be  obtained  against  it But  the  misfortune  is 

that,  notwithstanding  all  these  unquestionable  principles,  the 


THE   SLAVE-TKADE.  —  ITS  PROHIBITION. 


93 


African  prince  does  at  this  day,  and  after  this  law  passes  will, 
sell  his  subjects.  To  all  practical  purposes  a  title  is  acquired 
in  them ;  and  they  are  passed,  like  other  property,  from  one  to 
another  in  their  native  country.  But  this  is  not  the  worst. 
A  title  to  this  description  of  persons  is  not  only  allowed  in 
Africa,  but  is  and  must  be  after  your  law  passes,  in  a  large  sec 
tion  of  your  own  country Now  this  is  that  real,  practical 

state  of  things  to  which  we  must  look  and  on  which  we  must 
legislate.  How  ?  Do  all  we  can  to  prohibit.  If  you  fail  in 
this,  and  such  persons  are  imported,  then  forfeit,  —  because 
that  is  the  surest  mode  of  prohibition,  by  taking  away  the  in 
ducement  to  purchase  ;  because  the  government,  with  the  title 
in  its  own  hands,  can  exercise  its  rights  in  the  interests  of 
humanity.  The  objection  "  that  it  4  admits  a  title  '  is  only  in 
seeming.  All  that  is  necessarily  implied  is  that  all  of  title 
there  is,  more  or  less,  passes  into  the  hands  of  the  general 
government,  to  be  used  for  their  good.  What  the  government 
shall  do  with  them  may  be  left  for  future  consideration." 

Mr.  Macon  having  said  that  this  was  a  commercial  ques 
tion  merely,  with  which  the  laws  of  nations  have  nothing  to 
do,  Mr.  Smilie  remarked  that  this  question  is  connected  with 
principles  of  a  higher  order  than  those  merely  commercial. 
Repeating  the  self-evident  truths  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence,  he  inquired  how  these  rights  are  connected  with 
commercial  principles.  The  motion  to  strike  out  the  clause 
on  forfeiture  was  lost  by  a  large  majority.  The  report  of  the 
select  committee  coming  up  for  consideration  on  the  last  day 
of  the  month  and  year,  a  motion  was  made  to  substitute  im 
prisonment  for  not  less  than  five  nor  more  than  ten  years  for 
the  penalty  of  death,  for  the  violation  of  the  proposed  law. 
Mr.  Sloan  remarked  that  there  were  many  crimes  inferior  to 
this  punishable  with  death.  Depicting  the  horrors  of  the 
traffic,  he  affirmed  that  "there  should  be  a  proportion  in 
these  things." 

Mr.  Ely  of  Massachusetts  thought  it  the  most  heinous  of 
crimes,  and  he  advocated  so  severe  a  punishment  because 
he  wished  to  adopt  the  most  effectual  method  to  stop  it. 
Mr.  Tallmadge  of  Connecticut  expressed  surprise  that  where 


94         RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

there  was  such  unanimity  of  purpose  as  to  the  end,  there 
should  be  such  diversity  of  sentiment  as  to  the  means.  "  My 
only  wish,"  he  said,  "  is  to  affix  to  it  so  exemplary  a  punishment 
that  we  may,  if  possible,  totally  suppress  it."  Alluding  to  the 
similarity  between  those  laws  early  enacted  in  the  civilized 
world  and  those  given  to  the  Jews,  he  quoted  the  command  : 
"  And  he  that  stealeth  a  man  and  selleth  him,  or  if  he  be 
found  iii  his  hand,  he  shall  surely  be  put  to  death,"  and  in 
quired  :  "  If  this  was  the  punishment  by  Heaven  decreed  for 
man-stealers  and  man-sellers,  then  shall  imprisonment  and 
fines  be  substituted  now  ?  Shall  we  place  this  most  abomi 
nable  traffic,  which  I  fear  erelong  will  call  down  the  vengeance 
of  Heaven  on  our  heads,  in  the  list  of  minor  offences  ?  " 

Mr.  Moseley  of  Connecticut,  alluding  to  "  the  air  of  triumph  " 
with  which  Southern  men  charged  the  crime  of  this  traffic  to 
the  people  of  the  Northern  States  who  were  importing  slaves 
into  their  markets,  expressed  wonder  that  they  should  be  so 
tender  of  these  Northern  men.  He  believed  that  if  any  of  his 
section  were  convicted  of  this  grave  offence,  his  constituents 
would  thank  the  South  for  hanging  them.  Alluding  to  the 
fact  that  in  some  States  "  a  man  is  put  to  death  for  stealing 
fifty  dollars,"  Mr.  Smilie  said  :  "  Suppose  some  philosophical 
historian,  some  ages  hence,  should  find  that  we  punish  such 
trifles  with  death,  but  this  traffic  with  simple  imprisonment, 
would  not  such  a  paragraph  in  his  history  be  an  everlasting- 
disgrace  to  our  country  ?  " 

But  there  were  not  wanting  those  who  made  no  conceal 
ment  of  the  tendency  and  drift  of  their  sentiments  and 
feelings,  by  counselling  mild  measures  against  even  the  vile 
miscreants  of  the  slave-traffic,  —  some  who,  in  their  determi 
nation  to  maintain  and  profit  by  its  fruits,  found  an  adequate 
reason  for  dealing  gently  with  those  who  only  furnished  them 
these  fruits.  Thus,  Mr.  Early  doubted  the  propriety  of  the 
death  penalty,  because  the  people  would  not  execute  it.  For, 
he  said,  "  Southern  people  do  not  regard  this  traffic  a  crime. 
They  are  all  concerned  in  slavery.  They  consider  it  an  evil, 
and  apprehend,  at  some  future  day,  mischievous  consequences  ; 
but  few  consider  it  a  crime.  It  is  best  to  be  candid  on  this 


THE   SLAVE-TRADE.  —  ITS  PROHIBITION.  95 

subject If  they  considered  it  a  crime,  they  would 

necessarily  accuse  themselves.  I  will  tell  the  truth.  A  large 
majority  of  them  do  not  consider  it  even  an  evil."  Indorsing 
the  same  view,  Mr.  Holland  of  North  Carolina  went  a  step 
further,  and  said,  by  implication  at  least,  that  there  was  no 
essential  difference,  not  only  between  the  foreign  and  domestic 
slave-trade,  but  he  added,  with  damaging  emphasis,  between 
it  and  the  common  practice  of  slavery  itself.  He  said  :  "  The 
importer  might  say  to  the  informer  that  he  had  done  no  worse, 
nor  even  so  bad,  as  he.  It  is  true  that  I  have  these  slaves 
from  Africa  ;  but  I  have  transported  them  from  one  master  to 
another.  I  am  not  guilty  of  holding  human  beings  in  bond 
age.  But  you  are.  You  have  hundreds  on  your  plantation 
in  this  miserable  condition.  By  your  purchase  you  tempt 
traders  to  increase  the  evil.  He  might  hold  the  same  lan 
guage  to  the  jury  and  the  judge  who  try  him.  Under  such 
circumstances  the  law  inflicting  death  would  not  be  executed." 

Mr.  Clay  of  Pennsylvania  insisted  that  the  death  penalty  for 
the  violation  of  this  law  could  not  be  carried  into  effect  even 
in  his  State.  And  Mr.  Stanton  of  Rhode  Island  said  that 
those  who  bought  were  as  bad  as  those  who  import,  and  de 
serve  hanging  just  as  much  ;  "but,"  he  added,  thus  revealing 
his  sympathies  upon  the  subject,  "  I  cannot  believe  that  a  man 
ought  to  be  hung  for  only  stealing  a  negro."  The  motion  to 
strike  out  the  death  penalty  was  carried  by  a  vote  of  sixty- 
three  to  fifty-two ;  and  it  is  to  be  noted  that  these  damaging 
admissions  concerning  slavery  came  from  its  defenders.  It 
was  a  friend,  and  not  an  enemy,  who  said  that  there  was  no 
essential  difference,  not  only  between  the  foreign  and  domestic 
slave-trade,  but  between  it  and  the  common  practice  of  slavery 
itself.  It  was  an  advocate  who  said  that  they  who  bought 
were  as  bad  as  those  who  import,  and  "  deserve  hanging  just 
as  much." 

Early  in  January,  1807,  Mr.  Findley  offered  a  proviso  that 
"  no  person  shall  be  sold  as  a  slave  by  virtue  of  this  act "  ; 
but  it  was  lost  by  the  casting  vote  of  the  Speaker.  The  next 
day  the  bill  was  recommitted,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Bedinger,  to 
a  committee  of  seventeen,  who  so  amended  it  as  to  provide 


96          RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

that  all  persons  imported  in  violation  of  the  act  should  be 
sent  to  the  free  States,  bound  out  for  a  limited  time,  and 
made  free.  The  Senate  bill  was  also  referred  to  the  same 
committee,  and  on  the  9th  of  February  the  House  proceeded 
to  the  consideration  of  the  measure.  That  portion  of  the 
act  authorizing  the  President  to  take  such  persons  as  were 
forfeited  and  "  indenture  them  as  apprentices  or  servants,  as 
most  beneficial  for  them  and  safe  for  the  United  States,  out, 
however,  of  the  slave  States"  led  to  a  heated  and  angry  debate, 
lasting  the  whole  day.  Even  this  mild  and,  it  would  seem, 
favorable  disposition  of  such  persons  was  strenuously  opposed 
by  Southern  men.  Mr.  Early  emphatically  declared  that  "  the 
people  of  the  South  would  resist  this  provision  of  the  bill  with 
their  lives  "  ;  and  he  moved  to  amend  it  by  providing  that 
negroes  so  imported  should  be  delivered  to  the  State  authori 
ties,  to  be  disposed  of  as  they  may  determine.  His  violent 
utterances,  however,  were  sharply  rebuked  by  Mr.  Smilie,  who 
reminded  him  that  the  House  was  not  to  be  frightened  by 
threats  of  civil  war.  Mr.  Early  explained  that  he  only  meant 
to  say  that  troops  would  be  necessary  to  enforce  the  act. 

The  House  bill  was  laid  upon  the  table.  The  Senate  bill  was 
then  taken  up,  and  the  death  penalty  stricken  out,  by  a  major 
ity  of  nineteen.  It  forbade  the  transportation,  for  purposes  of 
sale,  of  any  negro  on  board  of  any  vessel  under  forty  tons' 
burden  ;  but,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Early,  it  was  amended  so  as  to 
exclude  the  Senate  prohibition  of  the  domestic  slave-trade. 
The  Senate  bill  also  provided  that  neither  importer  nor  pur 
chaser  should  gain  any  legal  title  to  persons  illegally  imported. 
Mr.  Williams  moved  to  substitute  the  word  "  retain  "  for  the 
word  "  have  "  or  "  gain  "  ;  and  the  motion  to  strike  out  was 
agreed  to,  but  the  word  "  hold  "  instead  of  "  retain  "  was  sub 
stituted.  Mr.  Williams  then  vehemently  declared  that  the  sub 
stitution  of  that  word  "  hold  "  instead  of  "  retain"  would  lead 
to  the  destruction  and  massacre  of  the  whites  in  the  Southern 
States.  The  Senate  bill  as  thus  amended  was  passed,  only  five 
voting  in  the  negative. 

The  Senate  promptly  concurring  in  the  amendments,  except 
ing  the  proviso  allowing  the  domestic  slave-trade,  the  House 


THE   SLAVE-TRADE.  —  ITS   PROHIBITION. 


97 


resumed  the  consideration  of  the  bill.  On  the  motion  to  recede 
from  the  amendment,  John  Randolph,  who  had  remained  silent 
during  the  debate,  made  a  violent  and  defiant  speech,  declar 
ing,  u  if  the  bill  passed  without  the  amendment,  the  Southern 
people  would  set  the  law  at  defiance,  and  he  would  set  the  ex 
ample."  The  House  voted  not  to  recede,  and  a  committee  of 
conference  was  appointed.  This  committee  adopted  a  modifi 
cation,  forbidding  "  the  transportation  of  slaves  coastwise  in 
vessels  under  forty  tons  with  a  view  to  sale." 

The  report  caused  a  very  acrimonious  debate.  Mr.  Randolph 
said  "  he  had  rather  lose  the  bill,  he  had  rather  lose  all  the 
bills  of  the  session,  he  had  rather  lose  every  bill  passed  since 
the  establishment  of  the  government,  than  agree  to  the  pro 
vision  contained  in  this  slave  bill.  It  went  to  blow  up  the  Con 
stitution  in  ruins."  "  The  whole  bill,"  said  Mr.  Williams,  "  is 
not  worth  a  single  farthing."  After  much  acrimonious  discus 
sion,  a  vote  was  reached,  and  the  modification  was  adopted  by 
a  majority  of  fourteen.  The  Senate  accepting  the  modification, 
the  bill  was  passed.  Subsequently  a  committee  was  chosen, 
on  motion  of  Mr.  Randolph,  to  prepare  an  explanatory  act. 
He  reported  a  bill,  which  was  referred  to  the  committee  of  the 
whole,  from  which  it  never  emerged. 

In  defiance  of  the  laws  of  Congress  and  the  claims  of 
humanity,  the  foreign  slave-trade  continued  to  be  stealthily 
carried  on  ;  and  the  domestic  slave-trade,  too,  by  land  and  sea, 
was  prosecuted  with  increasing  vigor.  It  was  estimated  that 
not  less  than  fifteen  thousand  slaves  were  annually  imported 
into  the  Southern  States.  The  domestic  slave-trade  was  stim 
ulated  by  the  increasing  demand  from  the  Gulf  States.  To  its 
ordinary  hardships  and  horrors  were  added  those  growing 
out  of  an  extensive  system  of  kidnapping.  The  honor  of  the 
country  and  the  claims  of  humanity  alike  demanded  additional 
legislation. 


13 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

DOMESTIC   AND   FOEEIGN    SLAVE-TRADE.  —  NEGOTIATIONS   WITH 
FOREIGN   POWERS. 

Extent  of  Domestic  and  Foreign  Slave-trade.  —  Cruel  Character  of  the  Traffic.  — 
Slave-breeding.  —  Prosecution  of  the  Foreign  Trade.  —  Christian  Sentiment. 

—  Action  of  the  Quakers.  —  Motion  of  Mr.  Burrell.  —  Rufus  King.  —  Mr. 
Morrill.  —  Mr.  Eaton's  Motion.  —  Mercer's  Resolution.  —  Passage  of  the  Bill. 

—  Mr.  Gorham's  Report.  —  Co-operation  with  Foreign  Powers  recommended. 

—  Treaty  of  1815.  —  British  Proposition.  —  Mr.  Rush's  Treaty.  —  Action  of 
England.  —  Dilatory  Action  of  the  Senate.  —  Treaty  amended.  —  Mr.  Clay's 
Reply.  —  Insincerity  of  the  American  Government. 

AMERICAN  slavery  was  multiform  in  its  aspects  and  ca 
pacities  for  evil.  Among  these  various  phases  and  features 
stood  out,  in  bold  and  black  relief,  the  slave-trade,  —  foreign 
and  domestic.  This,  in  all  its  developments,  —  from  the  first 
sale  of  his  captive  by  the  robber  chief  in  Africa,  through 
all  the  horrors  of  the  middle  passage  and  the  slave  coffle,  till 
the  last  transfer,  —  was  an  essential  part  of  the  system.  Not 
only  did  many  of  the  slave-masters  make  their  most  strenuous 
exertions  for  its  protection  and  preservation,  but  those  exer 
tions  were  too  often  connived  at,  if  not  aided,  by  the  general 
government.  A  true  estimate,  then,  of  the  extent  and  blame- 
worthiness  of  the  national  complicity  in  this  great  crime  re 
quires  a  glance  at  the  character  and  amount  of  that  commerce 
in  human  beings. 

After  the  peace  of  1815  the  demand  for  slave  labor  greatly 
increased,  and  the  price  of  slaves  largely  advanced.  Conse 
quently  the  slave-trade  was  prosecuted  with  renewed  vigor. 
Maryland,  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  Virginia  became  the 
seat  of  the  disgraceful  traffic,  the  head-quarters  and  field  of 
operations  of  those  who,  in  the  prosecution  of  their  terrible 
business,  here  sought  its  victims  and  furnished  supplies  for  the 


DOMESTIC  AND   FOREIGN  SLAVE-TRADE.  99 

Southwestern  market.  So  cruel  and  shameless  did  the  trade 
become  that  many  masters  themselves  and  defenders  of  the 
system  revolted  at  such  demonstrations,  and  entered  their 
earnest  protests  against  the  logical  sequences  of  their  own 
theories.  John  Randolph  denounced  it  as  inhuman  and  abom 
inable,  and  moved  for  a  committee  of  investigation ;  but  noth 
ing  came  of  it.  Even  a  governor  of  South  Carolina,  in  a 
message  to  his  legislature,  denounced  "  this  remorseless  and 
merciless  traffic,  the  ceaseless  dragging  along  the  streets  and 
highways  of  a  crowd  of  suffering  victims  to  minister  to  insatiable 
avarice,"  and  he,  too,  invoked  legislative  action.  And  this  is 
but  a  tithe  of  Southern  testimony,  not  to  be  impeached  by  the 
charge  of  abolition,  prejudice,  and  extravagance.  A  Kentucky 
synod  of  the  Presbyterian  church  thus  refers  to  the  slave  coffle, 
often  seen  in  that  State,  proclaiming,  it  said,  "  the  iniquity 
of  our  system."  "  There  is  not  a  village,"  it  adds,  "  that  does 
not  behold  the  sad  procession  of  manacled  victims."  Mr. 
Paulding,  afterward  Mr.  Van  Buren's  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
thus  describes  a  party  of  these  Northern  slaves,  which  he  met 
in  1815,  sold  for  a  Southern  market.  "  In  a  cart,"  he  said, 
"  tumbled  like  pigs,  were  half  a  dozen  half-naked  black  chil 
dren,  who  seemed  to  have  been  actually  broiled  to  sleep,  fol 
lowed  by  scantily  clothed  women,  without  shoes  or  stock 
ings,  and  men,  bareheaded,  half  clad,  and  chained  together 
with  an  ox-chain,"  followed  by  a  white  man  with  pistols  in  his 
belt.  A  Southern  editor  wrote  of  the  same  kind  of  procession 
as  "  with  heavy,  galling  chains  riveted  upon  their  person,  half 
naked,  half  starved,"  these  victims  of  man's  unfeeling  rapa 
city,  were  travelling  to  a  region  where  "  their  miserable  condi 
tion  will  be  second  only  to  the  wretched  creatures  in  hell." 

Nor  were  these  rare,  extreme,  exceptional  cases.  They  were 
the  order  of  the  day.  The  Border  States  had  become  slave- 
breeding  communities,  making  the  raising  of  slaves  a  special 
and  fostered  interest.  Still  quoting  Southern  testimony,  a 
Baltimore  journal  said :  "  Dealing  in  slaves  has  become  a 
large  business ;  establishments  are  made  in  several  places  in 
Maryland  and  Virginia,  at  which  they  are  sold  like  cattle. 
These  places  of  deposit  are  strongly  built,  and  well  supplied 


100       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

with  iron  thumb-screws  and  gags,  and  are  ornamented  with 
cow-skins,  oftentimes  bloody."  Thomas  Jefferson  Randolph 
said  in  the  Virginia  legislature,  in  1832,  that  the  "  State  was 
one  grand  menagerie,  where  men  are  reared  for  the  market  like 
oxen  for  the  shambles."  Comparing  the  domestic  and  foreign 
slave-trade,  he  pronounced  the  former  "  much  the  worse  "  ;  for 
while  the  latter,  he  said,  only  took  "  strangers  in  aspect,  lan 
guage,  and  manner,"  in  the  former,  an  individual  takes  those 
he  had  "  known  from  infancy," — he  might  have  put  it  far  more 
strongly,  —  tears  "  them  from  the  mother's  arms,"  and  sells 
them  "  into  a  strange  country,  among  a  strange  people,  subject 
to  cruel  taskmasters."  Mr.  Gholson  admitted  the  like  fact, 
and  added,  "  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  in  its  increase  con 
sists  much  of  our  wealth."  Professor  Dew,  afterwards  presi 
dent  of  William  and  Mary  College,  in  a  review  of  the  great 
debate  in  the  Virginia  legislature,  in  1831  -  32,  on  the  slavery 
question,  felt  called  upon  to  answer  the  objection  that  this 
traffic  would  depopulate  Virginia  of  its  black  population,  which 
he  did  by  saying  that  it  added  largely  to  its  revenues,  and  thus 
"  becomes  an  advantage  to  the  State,  and  does  not  check  the 
black  population  as  much  as  at  first  view  we  might  imagine, 
because  it  furnishes  every  inducement  to  the  master  to  attend 
to  the  negroes,  to  encourage  breeding,  and  to  cause  the  greatest 
number  possible  to  be  raised Virginia  is  in  fact  a  negro- 
raising  State  for  other  States." 

Now  when  it  is  remembered  that  this  was  not  spoken  in 
the  heat  of  debate  by  a  political  partisan,  but  written  by  a  cul 
tivated,  scholarly  man  in  the  calm  retirement  of  his  study, — 
an  educator,  too,  of  young  men  in  the  venerable  college  of  his 
State, —  discoursing  of  slave-breeding  and  slave-selling  as  if 
they  were  mere  matters  of  political  economy,  precisely  as  he 
would  write  of  raising  stock  and  improved  breeds  of  animals, 
coolly  putting  the  two  abhorrent  ideas  together,  —  the  one  as 
indecent  as  the  other  was  inhuman,  —  and  arguing  that  the 
stimulus  thus  given  to  slave-breeding  was  an  adequate  compen 
sation  for  the  losses  incurred  by  slave-selling,  —  something  of 
the  moral  tendency  of  the  system  he  defends  and  advocates 
may  be  estimated.  And  what  gives  its  deepest  shading  to 


DOMESTIC  AND   FOREIGN   SLAVE-TRADE.  101 

this  dark  picture  is  the  fact  that  this  increase  was  secured 
by  a  persistent  ignoring  of  the  family  relation,  that  these  slaves 
were  born  out  of  wedlock,  and  were  the  fruits  of  a  promiscuous 
concubinage.  It  this  was  the  style  of  thought  and  feeling  per 
vading  the  upper  strata  of  society,  the  sentiments  of  the  lower 
class  must  have  been  simply  horrible,  and  the  utter  social 
demoralization  which  the  rebellion  revealed  ceases  to  be  a  mat 
ter  of  wonder.  In  the  prosecution  of  this  terrible  business,  by 
the  confession  of  the  slave-dealers  themselves,  the  family  tie 
was  disregarded,  and  infants  were  taken  from  the  mother's 
arms,  while  she  was  sold  and  they  retained.  And  this  traffic 
had  become  so  enormous  that  in  1836  it  was  estimated  that 
the  number  sold  from  the  single  State  of  Virginia  was  forty 
thousand,  yielding  a  return  of  twenty-four  millions  of  dollars. 
It  was,  in  fact,  the  great  business,  licensed  and  protected  by 
laws,  advertised  in  the  papers,  and  recognized  as  one  of  the 
branches  of  legitimate  production  and  trade.  Of  course  there 
were  those  in  whom  the  sense  of  justice,  humanity,  and  shame 
was  not  altogether  extinct,  and  they  realized  its  enormity. 
Editors  saw  it  and  denounced  it,  ecclesiastical  bodies  con 
demned  it,  judges  charged  juries,  and  juries  presented  it  as  a 
grievance  and  nuisance.  Thus  Judge  Morsell,  of  the  Circuit 
Court,  charged  the  grand  jury  of  Washington  that  "  the  fre 
quency  with  which  the  streets  of  this  city  have  been  crowded 
with  manacled  captives,  sometimes  on  the  sabbath,  cannot  fail 
to  shock  all  humane  persons." 

While  these  scenes  were  enacting  in  the  interests  of  the 
domestic  slave-traffic,  the  foreign  was  still  prosecuted  with 
vigor.  Without  adducing  the  facts,  it  may  be  sufficient  to 
quote  the  language  of  Judge  Story,  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  in  a  charge  to  a  grand  jury  in  1819. 
"  We  have,"  he  said,  "  but  too  many  proofs  from  unquestion 
able  sources  that  —  the  African  trade  —  is  still  carried  on  with 
the  implacable  ferocity  and  insatiable  rapacity  of  former  times. 
Avarice  has  grown  more  subtle  in  its  evasions,  and  it  watches 
and  seizes  its  prey  with  an  appetite  quickened,  rather  than 
suppressed  by  its  guilty  vigils.  American  citizens  are  steeped 
to  their  very  mouths — I  can  scarcely  use  too  bold  a  figure — in 


102       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

this  stream  of  iniquity."  And  the  numbers  thus  smuggled 
into  the  country  at  that  time  were  estimated  by  a  Southern 
man  at  from  thirteen  thousand  to  fifteen  thousand  annu 
ally.  These  statistics  of  the  domestic  and  foreign  traffic 
are  easily  written,  but  who  can  measure  the  unmitigated 
wrongs  and  untold  wretchedness  involved  in  the  sale  and 
transportation  of  each  one  of  the  victims  for  whom  they 
stand  ?  If  Mr.  Jefferson's  arraignment  of  slavery  was  not 
extravagant,  when  he  declared  that  one  hour  of  the  slave's 
bondage  was  fraught  with  greater  evil  than  ages  of  the  oppres 
sion  of  Great  Britain,  in  revolt  from  which  our  fathers  fought 
through  the  Revolution,  what  shall  be  said  of  the  superadded 
horrors,  not  only  of  a  single  year's  export  from  a  single  State 
of  forty  thousand  men,  women,  and  children,  but  of  the  vast 
aggregate  of  all  the  States  and  all  the  years  of  this  iniquitous 
trade  ?  And  what  shall  be  said  of  the  scores  of  thousands  of 
smuggled  victims  of  foreign  and  piratical  expeditions,  extend 
ing  over  the  same  years,  subjected  not  only  to  the  ordinary 
horrors  of  the  slave-trade,  but  to  sufferings  greatly  increased 
and  intensified  by  the  outlawry  and  ban  of  the  civilized  world, 
under  which  they  must  be  conducted  ?  Surely  it  transcends 
all  human  conception. 

It  was  not  strange,  perhaps,  that  vile  and  rapacious  men 
were  found  ready  and  reckless  enough  to  engage  in  this  ill- 
favored  commerce  in  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men,  and  that 
for  the  extravagant  profits  which  rewarded  a  successful  ven 
ture  in  the  foreign  trade  there  were  those  who  would  run 
the  risk  of  detection ;  but  it  was  a  singular,  an  astounding  fact 
that  a  young  and  professedly  Christian  republic  was  found, 
if  not  indorsing,  yet  consenting  to  it,  —  if  not  protecting,  at 
least  tolerating  it.  For  the  disgraceful  record  not  only  reveals 
the  fact  that  Congress,  though  often  petitioned  to  abolish  the 
interstate  slave-trade,  always  refused  such  prayers,  not  even 
adopting  any  regulations  in  the  interests  of  humanity  in  rela 
tion  to  it,  but  it  shows  that  "  an  official  document  was  submit 
ted,"  in  1819,  by  Mr.  Nourse,  Register  of  the  Treasury,  in 
which  he  certified  that,  though  the  act  of  1807,  abolishing  the 
slave-trade,  required  the  forfeiture  to  the  government  of  the 


DOMESTIC  AND   FOREIGN   SLAVE-TRADE.  103 

Africans  thus  illegally  introduced  into  the  country,  yet  of  the 
more  than  a  hundred  thousand  which,  by  Southern  admission, 
had  been  surreptitiously  brought  here,  there  were  no  records 
in  the  Treasury  Department  of  any  forfeitures  under  the 
act.  When  Anthony  Burns  was  to  be  remanded  to  slavery, 
the  whole  military  and  naval  power  of  the  general  govern 
ment  was  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  slave-master,  and  he 
was  remanded  to  his  cruel  bondage.  Of  more  than  a  hundred 
thousand  persons  imported  into  the  United  States  in  violation 
of  law  and  entitled  to  their  freedom  by  it,  not  one  found  it,  at 
least  in  the  way  provided  in  the  statute. 

Of  course  this  wholesale  and  persistent  outrage  upon  all  law, 
human  and  divine,  excited  the  sympathy,  the  indignation,  and 
the  apprehension  of  the  humane  and  patriotic.  Nor  was  the 
country  ever  without  earnest  protestants  and  witnesses  for  the 
right  and  against  the  wrong.  The  faithful  Quakers  and  others 
besieged  Congress  with  their  petitions,  though  generally  with 
unsatisfying  and  indifferent  results.  In  March,  1817,  Mr. 
Roberts  of  Pennsylvania  introduced  a  resolution  asking  for 
the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  inquire  into  the  expe 
diency  of  making  further  provision  against  the  introduction 
of  slaves.  A  committee  was  granted,  which  reported  a  bill 
that  passed  both  Houses.  By  its  provisions  the  penalties  of 
the  Prohibitory  Act  were  applied  to  the  fitting  out  of  vessels  for 
the  trade  and  the  transportation  of  slaves  to  any  country  ;  and 
in  all  cases  where  negroes  were  found  on  shipboard,  the  burden 
of  proof  was  put  on  those  in  whose  possession  they  were  found. 

Notwithstanding  this  legislation,  however,  the  foreign  and 
domestic  slave-trade  went  on  unchecked.  Further  legislation 
and  the  rigorous  enforcement  of  existing  laws  were  demanded 
by  the  friends  of  freedom  and  humanity.  The  Quakers,  as 
ever  on  the  alert,  were  foremost  in  calling  for  the  suppression 
of  both  the  foreign  and  domestic  traffic.  The  Yearly  Meeting 
of  Friends  sent  a  memorial  to  Congress  near  the  close  of  the 
year  1817,  for  further  provision  by  law  for  the  suppression  of 
the  trade  in  negroes  between  the  Middle  and  Southern  States. 
This  memorial  was  referred  by  the  Senate  to  a  committee  of 
five,  of  which  Mr.  Goldsborough  of  Maryland  was  chairman. 


104       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWEE   IN  AMERICA. 

A  few  days  afterwards  Mr.  Burrill  of  Rhode  Island  moved 
that  the  committee,  to  which  had  been  referred  the  memorial, 
be  instructed  to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  amending  the 
laws  concerning  the  slave-trade,  and  also  to  consider  the  expe 
diency  of  consulting  with  other  nations,  with  a  view  to  the 
entire  abolition  of  that  traffic.  Mr.  Troup  of  Georgia  ex 
pressed  his  readiness  to  enforce,  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
United  States,  the  abolition  of  the  African  slave-trade,  but  he 
was  not  ready  to  co-operate  with  other  nations  for  its  suppres 
sion.  But  it  was  strenuously  maintained  by  Mr.  Burrill  that 
the  slave-trade  could  be  abolished  only  by  concert  and  co-opera 
tion  with  other  nations.  The  venerable  Rufus  King,  one  of 
the  framers  of  the  Constitution,  thought  the  nation  was  bound, 
by  its  principles  and  the  promises  it  had  made,  to  go  farther 
than  it  had  ever  gone  for  the  suppression  of  a  traffic  so  abhor 
rent.  He  confessed  he  could  not  see  how  co-operation  with 
other  nations  for  this  purpose  could  lead  to  entangling  allian 
ces  or  jeopardize  the  country. 

Mr.  Campbell  of  Tennessee  was  opposed  to  such  co-opera 
tion.  He  asked,  if  we  were  to  unite  with  France  and  England 
to  induce  Spain  and  Portugal  to  give  up  the  slave-trade,  and 
they  should  refuse,  whether  we  were  to  attempt  to  compel 
them  to  do  it  by  force  of  arms.  To  this  Mr.  Burrill  replied, 
that  no  nation  would  be  very  likely  to  go  to  war  for  the  slave- 
trade.  On  the  contrary,  Spain  and  Portugal  might  be  in 
fluenced  by  the  acts  of  other  countries.  It  was  asserted  by 
Mr.  Barbour  of  Virginia  that  the  State  he  represented  took 
the  lead  in  the  effort  "  to  exterminate  the  horrible  traffic." 
He  feared  nothing  from  an  alliance  with  any  nation  whose 
only  object  was  humanity.  Through  the  Executive  alone, 
however,  could  the  proper  arrangements  be  effected  with  other 
nations.  He  then  moved  to  strike  out  the  clause  of  the  resolu 
tion  seeking  the  co-operation  of  other  nations. 

Mr.  Morrill  of  New  Hampshire  made  an  earnest  and  enthusi 
astic  speech  in  favor  of  the  termination  of  slavery  itself.  He 
maintained  that  "  we  were  a  Christian  nation,  that  the  Bible 
was  our  moral  guide,  that  its  principles  were  sacred,  its  pre 
cepts  salutary,  and  its  commands  obligatory.  The  frowns  of 


DOMESTIC  AND   FOREIGN   SLAVE-TRADE.  105 

Heaven  and  the  threatenings  of  God  rested  on  men  for  their 
ingratitude  to  their  fellow-mortals.  Babylon  the  great  had 
fallen,  for  she  had  a  traffic  in  the  souls  of  men.  To  avert  the 
judgments  of  Heaven,  let  the  inhuman  traffic  be  abolished  to 
the  ends  of  the  earth."  Senators  were  reminded  by  Mr.  King 
that  the  concert  proposed  with  other  nations  was  not  the  union 
of  arms,  but  of  opinions,  of  example,  and  of  influence,  for  the 
purpose  of  inducing  Spain  and  Portugal  to  accede  to  the  com 
pact  already  made  with  other  nations,  to  put  an  end  to  the 
African  slave-trade.  The  motion  to  strike  out  the  clause 
relating  to  concert  with  other  nations  was  lost  by  one  vote, 
and  the  resolution  was  then  adopted. 

At  the  next  session,  in  December,  1818,  on  motion  of  Mr. 
Eaton  of  Tennessee,  the  Senate  appointed  a  select  committee 
to  inquire  whether  any  and  what  amendments  to  existing  laws 
were  necessary  to  prevent  the  importation  of  slaves.  Early  in 
February  Mr.  Eaton  reported  a  bill  supplementary  to  the  act 
of  1817. 

In  the  House  Mr.  Mercer  introduced  two  resolutions  calling 
upon  the  Navy  and  Treasury  Departments  for  information  con 
cerning  the  slave-trade.  On  the  13th  of  January  Mr.  Middle- 
ton  of  South  Carolina,  chairman  of  the  committee  to  which 
had  been  referred  so  much  of  the  President's  message  as  re 
lated  to  the  slave-trade,  reported  a  bill  in  addition  to  the  sev 
eral  acts  prohibiting  that  traffic.  The  House  proceeded  to  its 
consideration.  The  sections  of  the  bill  providing  bounties  for 
the  crews  of  vessels  capturing  slaves  imported,  and  for  inform 
ers  whose  evidence  should  lead  to  the  conviction  of  smugglers 
of  slaves,  were  strenuously  opposed  by  Mr.  Strother  of  Vir 
ginia  ;  but  the  bill  was  defended  by  Mr.  Mercer  in  all  its  parts. 
On  motion  of  Mr.  Pindall  of  the  same  State,  the  House 
amended  it  so  as  to  punish  with  death  every  person  who 
should  import,  or  aid  and  abet  the  importation  of,  any  African 
negro,  with  intent  to  sell  or  use  such  negro  as  a  slave,  or  who 
should  purchase  such  negro  so  imported.  It  was  then  passed. 
In  the  Senate  Mr.  Eaton  reported  it  from  the  committee  with 
an  amendment,  striking  out  the  provision  making  the  violation 
of  the  law  punishable  with  death.  This  amendment  was  agreed 

14 


106       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

to,  the  bill  was  passed,  the  House  concurred,  and  it  became  a 
law. 

At  the  ensuing  session  in  December,  1819,  the  House  ap 
pointed  a  select  committee  on  the  slave-trade.  Mr.  Mercer 
reported  three  resolutions  authorizing  the  President  to  nego 
tiate  with  foreign  powers.  The  first  of  the  three  was  agreed 
to  by  a  large  majority,  but  was  lost  in  the  Senate  after  a  brief 
debate,  in  which  it  was  earnestly  supported  by  Burrill,  King, 
and  Lowrie  of  Pennsylvania,  and  opposed  by  Smith  of  South 
Carolina,  and  Walker  and  King  of  Alabama. 

In  the  month  of  April,  1822,  Mr.  Gorham  of  Massachusetts, 
from  the  committee  to  which  had  been  referred  so  much  of  the 
President's  message  as  related  to  the  slave-trade,  made  an  able 
report,  closing  with  the  recommendation  that  the  President  be 
requested  to  make  arrangements  with  one  or  more  of  the  mari 
time  powers  of  Europe  for  the  more  effectual  suppression  of 
the  slave-trade.  But  this  humane  proposition  was  resisted. 
Mr.  Poinsett  of  South  Carolina  stated  that  the  resolution  was 
carried  by  a  bare  majority  of  the  committee,  and  that  he  did 
not  concur  in  the  measure  recommended. 

At  the  next  session,  in  December,  the  President  in  his  an 
nual  message  again  called  the  attention  of  Congress  to  the 
African  slave-trade.  On  motion  of  Mr.  Taylor  of  New  York 
that  portion  of  the  message  was  referred  to  a  select  committee. 
Mr.  Gorham,  who  had  reported  at  the  previous  session  in  favor 
of  concert  with  foreign  powers,  was  made  chairman.  A  reso 
lution  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Mercer,  ever  an  earnest  and  con 
sistent  advocate  of  measures  tending  to  the  utter  extinction 
of  the  traffic,  requesting  the  President  to  prosecute  negotia 
tions  with  the  maritime  powers  of  Europe  and  America  for  its 
effectual  abolition,  and  for  its  ultimate  denunciation  as  piracy, 
under  the  law  of  nations,  by  the  consent  of  the  civilized  world. 
He  expressed  the  opinion  that  not  less  than  thirteen  thousand 
negroes  were  even  then  annually,  smuggled  into  the  Southern 
States.  He  emphatically  denounced  the  African  slave-trade  as 
a"  crime,  begun  on  a  barbarous  shore,  claimed  by  no  civilized 
state,  and  subject  to  no  moral  law ;  a  remnant  of  ancient  barba 
rism,  a  curse  extended  to  the  New  World  by  the  colonial  policy 


NEGOTIATIONS   WITH   THE  FOREIGN  POWERS.  107 

of  the  Old."  He  would  fix  upon  the  African  slave-dealer  the 
guilt  and  stigma  of  being  a  pirate  and  a  felon,  and  he  implored 
the  House  to  sustain  the  policy  of  such  a  legal  characterization. 
Mr.  Wright  of  Maryland  would  have  the  "  government  listen 
to  the  voice  of  distressed  humanity,  and  unite  with  the  powers 
of  Europe  in  a  qualified  search,  proposed  by  Lord  Castlereagh 
in  his  noble  agency  for  the  suppression  of  the  African  slave- 
trade."  Mr.  Mercer's  resolutions  were  then  agreed  to  with  only 
nine  dissenting  votes. 

In  the  House,  in  December,  1823,  so  much  of  the  President's 
message  as  related  to  the  slave-trade  was  referred  to  a  select 
committee,  of  which  Mr.  Govan  of  South  Carolina  was  chair 
man.  On  motion  of  Mr.  Mercer,  it  was  instructed  to  consider 
the  expediency  of  prohibiting  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
under  the  severe  penalties  of  existing  laws,  from  fitting  out 
slave-trading  expeditions  in  foreign  ports.  A  bill  to  this  effect 
was  reported  by  the  committee,  but  the  House  took  no  action 
thereupon. 

But  the  representations  of  President  Monroe,  the  efforts  of 
the  humane  and  just  in  and  out  of  Congress,  did  little  to  ar 
rest  the  prosecution  of  a  traffic  nurtured  by  the  avarice  and 
stimulated  by  the  slave  system  of  the  United  States.  Thus 
had  it  ever  been.  Though  the  legislation  and  attempted  legis 
lation  implied  both  desire  and  design  to  prevent  it,  they  did 
in  fact  but  keep  the  promise  to  the  ear  and  break  it  to  the 
hope. 

As  the  sensitiveness  and  jealousies  of  the  slave-masters  had 
rendered  abortive  all  attempts  at  home  to  secure  practical 
legislation  against  the  slave-traffic,  so  were  the  pretended 
efforts  put  forth  by  the  government  to  accomplish  a  like 
object  through  negotiations  with  foreign  powers  equally  futile. 
Though  it  seemed  to  be  earnest  and  honest  of  purpose  in  its 
attempts,  they  never  became  effective.  It  always  contrived  to 
present  its  plans  and  purposes  in  such  shape,  or  coupled  with 
such  conditions,  that  they  never  reached  any  satisfactory  con 
clusion. 

In  the  Treaty  of  Peace  of  1815  it  was  declared  that  the 
traffic  in  slaves  was  irreconcilable  with  the  ]?  inciples  of 


108       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

humanity  and  justice,  that  the  two  governments  were  desir 
ous  of  continuing  their  efforts  for  its  entire  abolition ;  and  the 
two  contracting  parties  pledged  themselves  to  use  their  best 
endeavors  to  accomplish  that  object.  Three  years  after  the 
ratification  of  the  treaty  Lord  Castlereagh  proposed  to  the 
American  Minister,  Mr.  Rush,  to  concede  to  each  other's  ships 
of  war  a  qualified  right  of  search,  with  the  power  of  detaining 
vessels  of  either  country  found  with  slaves  actually  on  board. 
To  this  fair  and  just  proposition  a  positive  refusal  had  been 
returned  by  the  American  government.  In  1819  Parliament 
requested  the  Prince  Regent  to  renew  his  beneficent  endeavors 
with  the  United  States  for  the  suppression  of  the  traffic  ;  but 
these  practical  propositions  of  the  British  government  did  not 
meet  with  a  favorable  response. 

On  the  29th  of  January,  1823,  Mr.  Stratford  Canning,  the 
British  Minister  at  Washington,  reminded  Mr.  Adams,  Secre 
tary  of  State,  of  the  pledge  given  at  the  Treaty  of  Ghent, 
requesting  the  American  government  to  assent  to  a  plan  pro 
posed  by  Great  Britain,  or  to  suggest  some  other  in  its  stead. 
He  was  informed  that  the  United  States  proposed  a  mutual 
stipulation,  making  the  penalty  of  slave-trading  piracy.  To 
this  proposition  Mr.  Canning  replied  that  his  government 
desired  that  any  British  subject  who  defied  the  law  and  dis 
honored  his  country  by  engaging  in  a  trade  of  blood  should 
be  detected  and  brought  to  justice  "  even  by  foreign  hands, 
and  from  under  the  protection  of  her  flag."  But  he  proposed 
that  the  mutual  right  of  search  should  be  conceded  for  a  lim 
ited  time,  be  restricted  to  certain  parts  of  the  ocean,  and  be 
confined  to  a  certain  number  of  cruisers  on  each  side,  to  be 
proportioned  by  mutual  consent.  This  proposition,  too,  so  hon 
orable  to  the  British  government,  was  rejected.  Despatches, 
however,  were  forwarded  to  France,  Spain,  Portugal,  Russia, 
Netherlands,  Buenos  Ayres,  and  Colombia,  expressing  the 
desire  of  this  government  to  make  the  slave-trade  piracy  by 
the  common  consent'of  the  civilized  world. 

In  June,  1823,  Mr.  Rush  was  instructed  to  conclude  a  treaty 
with  Great  Britain  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave-trade ;  and 
the  draft  of  a  convention  was  forwarded  to  him,  authorizing 


NEGOTIATIONS   WITH   THE   FOREIGN  POWERS.  109 

him  to  propose  and  conclude  a  treaty  "  on  the  basis  of  a  legis 
lative  prohibition  of  the  slave-trade  by  both  parties,  under  the 
penalty  of  piracy."  But  the  British  Minister,  confident  of  the 
action  of  Parliament,  said  Mr.  Rush  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Adams, 
gave  "  their  unhesitating  consent  to  the  principle  denouncing 
the  slave-trade  as  piracy."  On  the  13th  of  March,  1824,  a  treaty 
was  signed  at  London,  which  was  nearly  a  verbatim  draft  of 
that  sent  from  Washington.  Parliament  hastened  to  pass  an 
Act  in  compliance  with  the  conditions  exacted  by  the  United 
States.  In  this  Act  it  was  declared  that  all  British  subjects, 
found  guilty  of  slave-trading,  "  shall  suffer  death  without  benefit 
of  clergy,  and  loss  of  lands  and  goods'  and  chattels,  as  pirates, 
felons,  and  robbers  upon  the  sea  ought  to  suffer."  It  was  pro 
vided  in  this  treaty  that  the  cruisers  of  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain,  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  America,  and  the  West 
Indies,  might  seize  slavers  under  the  British  or  American  flag, 
and  send  them  to  the  country  where  they  belonged  to  be  tried 
as  pirates. 

This  treaty,  made  in  the  interests  of  humanity  and  of 
civilization,  the  ratification  of  which  would  have  been  alike 
honorable  to  England  and  America,  was  laid  before  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  on  the  30th  of  April.  That  body 
hesitated  and  delayed  action.  On  the  16th  of  May  the 
British  Minister  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  State, 
reminding  him  that  the  treaty  had  originated  with  this  gov 
ernment,  and  that  England  had,  without  hesitation,  com 
plied  with  the  condition  by  making  the  slave-trade  piracy. 
Thus  pressed,  the  President  sent  a  message  to  the  Senate,  in 
which  he  reminded  that  body  that  the  rejection  of  the  treaty 
would  subject  the  nation,  the  Executive,  and  Congress  to  the 
charge  of  insincerity  and  inconsistency.  He  also  expressed 
the  conviction  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  detect  the  pirates 
without  entering  and  searching  the  vessels,  and  that  it  would 
be  inconsistent  in  us,  with  the  statute  of  piracy  in  our  hands, 
to  deny  the  common  right  of  search  for  the  pirates.  But 
the  Senate  still  hesitated,  and,  after  long  debates,  changed, 
mutilated,  and  then  ratified  the  treaty.  So  much  as  pro 
vided  for  the  right  of  search  on  the  coast  of  America, 


110       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IK   AMERICA. 

and  so  much  as  applied  to  chartered  vessels,  or  to  the 
citizens  of  either  country  carrying  on  the  trade  under  the 
foreign  flag,  were  stricken  out.  Few  vessels,  however,  direct 
from  Africa,  landed  slaves  in  the  United  States.  They  were 
generally  landed  on  some  of  the  West  India  Islands  and 
taken  to  the  United  States  in  small  vessels  ;  so  that  all  that 
was  necessary  for  them  to  do  was  to  charter  vessels  instead  of 
owning  them,  and  to  run  up  a  foreign  flag  instead  of  their 
own.  Of  course  the  treaty,  thus  emasculated,  could  do  little 
to  arrest  the  trade. 

The  British  government  refused  to  assent  to  the  treaty  thus 
mutilated  and  weakened,  though  it  offered,  through  its  minis 
ter  at  Washington,  to  give  its  assent  on  the  condition  of  allow 
ing  the  mutual  right  of  search  on  the  coast  of  America.  To 
this  proposition  Mr.  Clay,  Secretary  of  State,  replied  that,  from 
the  views  entertained  by  the  Senate,  it  was  inexpedient  to  con 
tinue  the  negotiations.  He  reminded  the  British  Cabinet  that  a 
similar  connection  had  been  formed  with  Colombia  on  the  10th 
of  December,  1824,  the  coast  of  America  being  excepted  from 
its  operation,  and  yet,  notwithstanding  this  conciliatory  feature, 
the  Senate  had,  by  a  large  majority,  refused  to  ratify  it. 

This  language  of  Mr.  Clay,  from  his  high  position,  his  ante 
cedents,  and  connection  with  a  Northern  President,  clearly  in 
dicated  not  only  the  manifest  drift  of  the  government,  but  the 
strong  pressure  upon  the  aspiring  public  men  of  those  days. 
It  revealed,  too,  that  of  which  Mr.  Monroe  so  much  dreaded 
the  imputation,  the  nation's  "  inconsistency  and  insincerity." 
For  it  became  manifest  that  it  not  only  merited  the  sarcasm  of 
the  British  caricature,  representing  it  with  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  in  the  one  hand  and  a  brandished  whip  over 
affrighted  slaves  in  the  other,  but  the  charge  of  a  pretended 
interest  in  an  object  it  did  not  wish  to  see  accomplished.  But 
why  this  vacillating  and  equivocal  policy  ?  Foremost  among 
the  reasons  was,  the  large  and  powerful  minority  in  the  ex 
treme  South,  who  loved  slavery  and  everything  tending  to  in 
vigorate  and  support  it,  —  a  minority  inflexible  and  imperious 
in  its  demands.  The  Border  slave  States  opposed  it,  but  their 
opposition  was  based  upon  interest  rather  than  upon  moral  con- 


NEGOTIATIONS   WITH   THE   FOREIGN   POWERS.  Ill 

siderations.  The  Northern  States,  indeed,  opposed  it  from 
principle.  But  there  was  even  there  a  large  commercial  class, 
either  implicated  in  the  trade  itself,  or  anxious  to  conciliate 
Southern  interest  and  secure  Southern  favor.  This  class  was 
never  hearty  in  its  opposition  to  Southern  demands,  however 
irrational  and  extreme.  And  then  there  was  a  class  of  politi 
cians,  ever  anxious  to  obtain  and  retain  power.  They  were 
obsequious  to  those  determined  Southern  men  who,  with  their 
Northern  auxiliaries,  then  and  since,  made  and  unmade  parties 
and  their  candidates.  Surely,  from  such  a  composite,  harmony 
and  consistency  in  right,  or  even  in  wrong,  could  hardly  be  ex 
pected.  For,  diffused  everywhere  was.  the  recognition  of  the 
fact  always  weakening  the  right  and  strengthening  the  wrong, 
that  slavery  and  the  slave-trade  were  essentially  alike,  and  that 
hearty  opposition  to  the  latter  was  illogical  and  untenable  so 
long  as  the  former  was  enshrined  in  the  Constitution  and  pro 
tected  by  the  government. 

Here,  then,  lay  the  difficulty,  as  here  is  found  the  key  to  the 
mysteries  of  American  diplomacy.  The  nation  attempted  the 
impossible  feat  of  moving  at  once  in  opposite  directions,  per 
sonating  on  the  same  stage,  at  the  same  time,  the  angel  of  lib 
erty  and  the  demon  of  slavery.  Hence  its  policy  was  little 
better  than  a  masquerade,  made  up  of  feints  and  disguises, 
either  cloaking  under  fair  pretences  the  most  shameless  of 
purposes,  or,  where  concealment  was  impossible,  avowing  a 
policy  in  direct  antagonism  to  every  avowed  principle  of  its 
form  of  government.  Of  the  British  rule  in  India  an  Eng 
lish  writer  has  said  :  "A  government  cannot  be  administered 
according  to  the  standard  of  the  moral  law,  which  violated,  in 
its  establishment,  every  principle  of  the  Decalogue."  Equally 
difficult  was  it  for  the  government  of  the  United  States  to  do 
justly  and  love  mercy  so  long  as  it  was  bound  by  the  com 
promises  of  the  Constitution  to  recognize  and  maintain  "  the 
sum  of  all  villanies."  It  could  not  do  right  so  long  as  the  origi 
nal  sin  remained  unrepented  of  and  unforsaken. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

FOREIGN  RELATION  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT  INFLUENCED  BY  SLAVERY. 

American  Government  humiliated  by  Slavery.  — Treaty  of  1783.  — Demands  on 
England. — Jay's  Treaty.  —  Free  Negroes  of  San  Domingo.  —  Demands  of 
Napoleon.  —  Monroe  Doctrine.  —  Congress  at  Panama.  —  Report  of  the  Com 
mittee  on  Foreign  Affairs.  —  Debate.  — "War  of  1812.  —  Randolph's  Speech.  — 
Instruction  to  the  Peace  Commissioners.  —  Treaty  of  Ghent.  —  Demands  on 
the  Commander  of  the  British  Squadron.  —  Position  of  the  British  Govern 
ment.  —  Persistent  Demands  of  the  American  Government  for  Payment  of 
Slaves.  —  Decision  referred  to  Russia.  —  Proposed  Invasion  of  Cuba  by  Mexico. 
—  Intervention  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  —  Debate  in  the 
Senate.  —  Instructions  of  Mr.  Clay  to  the  Panama  Commissioners. 

THE  necessities  of  slavery  not  only  brought  it  into  constant 
contact  with  freemen  and  free  institutions  at  home,  but  often  and 
seriously  disturbed  the  foreign  relations  of  the  American  govern 
ment.  Perhaps  among  the  most  mischievous  and  mortifying 
of  its  influences  was  the  humiliating  attitude  in  which  it  placed 
the  nation  before  the  world.  Indeed,  the  saddest  page  of  the 
history  of  the  Slave  Power  is  the  record  of  the  nation's  diplo 
matic  correspondence  with  other  governments  upon  this  sub 
ject.  The  persistent  and  shameless  requirements  of  the  slave- 
masters  forced  it  ever  to  compromise  its  dignity,  consistency, 
and  conscience  by  registering  their  edicts  at  home,  and  boister 
ously  demanding  their  execution  abroad.  It  was  not  a  paid 
agent  indeed,  for,  like  that  of  the  slaves  themselves,  its  service 
was  an  unrequited  toil,  its  only  rewards  being  the  disgrace  it 
incurred  and  the  increased  rigors  of  the  despotism  by  which 
it  was  bound.  Even  a  cursory  survey  of  its  course  in  these 
foreign  relations  will  reveal  ample  and  mournful  evidences  of 
the  national  subserviency  and  sacrifices  to  those  vile  behests. 
At  the  very  outset,  before  the  government  was  fairly  launched, 
or  the  Treaty  of  Peace  signed,  even  in  the  very  efforts  to  secure 


FOEEIGN   RELATIONS   INFLUENCED   BY   SLAVERY.  113 

it,  this  solicitude  was  revealed,  as  if  the  conservation  of  slavery 
was  more  important  than  the  salvation  of  the  country. 

During  the  progress  of  the  war  many  slaves,  having  escaped 
from  their  masters,  found  refuge  on  board  British  vessels,  and 
were  carried  away.  At  the  critical  moment  of  negotiating  this 
treaty  the  slave-masters,  for  both  pecuniary  and  political  rea 
sons,  seized  this  most  inopportune  juncture  to  press  their  claims 
for  compensation  for  such  slaves.  They  found  one  subservient 
to  their  wishes,  in  Henry  Laurens  of  South  Carolina,  who  was 
one  of  the  commission^  consisting  of  himself,  Franklin,  Adams, 
and  Jay,  sent  to  Paris  on  this  important  and  delicate  errand. 
At  his  suggestion  the  seventh  article  was  inserted  in  the 
Treaty  of  Peace,  by  which  it  was  provided  that  the  British 
army  "  should  not  carry  away  any  negroes  or  other  property." 

Mr.  Chief  Justice  Jay  was  afterward  appointed  to  negotiate 
a  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce.  He  was  instructed  by  the 
government  to  demand  compensation  for  these  slaves.  Lord 
Granville  resisted  the  demand  and  declined  its  payment.  In 
communicating  the  fact  to  this  government  Mr.  Jay  character 
ized  the  claim  as  "  an  odious  one,"  and  the  treaty  was  made 
without  the  provision.  It  consequently  encountered  stern  op 
position  in  the  Senate.  Mr.  Gunn  of  Georgia  presented  a 
resolution  affirming  that  "  many  negroes  and  other  property  " 
had  been  carried  away  by  the  British  army  in  contravention 
of  the  Treaty  of  Peace.  The  President  was  required  to  renew 
negotiations  to  secure  indemnity  for  such  losses  ;  and  the  com 
missioner  was  further  instructed,  if  he  failed  to  secure  the 
desired  compensation  under  the  treaty,  to  press  the  claim  on 
the  ground  that  to  grant  it  would  "  tend  to  produce  the  desired 
friendship  between  the  two  governments."  And  this  perti 
nacity  in  its  demands  was  only  a  representative  fact,  indicating 
the  deep  and  determined  purpose  of  the  Slave  Power,  even  in 
its  beginnings,  to  inaugurate  a  policy  that  was  never  remitted, 
until  the  power  itself  was  stricken  down  by  the  very  conflict  it 
had  itself  evoked  in  its  own  behalf. 

One  of  the  consequences  of  the  French  Revolution  was  the 
investiture  of  the  free  blacks  of  San  Domingo  with  the  privi 
leges  of  citizenship.  This  application  of  the  revolutionary 

15 


114       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

watchwords  of  that  stormy  period,  its  "  Liberty,  Equality,  Fra 
ternity,"  excited  great  commotion  and  opposition  in  that 
island,  especially  among  its  white  inhabitants.  This  commo 
tion  was  fostered  by  British  aid,  and,  with  the  varying  for 
tunes  of  war,  continued  until  1798,  when  the  negroes,  left  in 
full  possession  of  the  island,  free  and  emancipated,  organized 
the  government  of  Hayti.  Though  Napoleon  sought  to  resub- 
jugate  the  island,  and  sacrificed  in  the  attempt  some  forty 
thousand  troops,  the  French  commander  was  forced  to  surren 
der  to  the  victorious  Haytien  armies  in  1802,  and  Hayti 
became  an  independent  nation,  subsequently  acknowledged 
as  such  by  the  governments  of  France  and  England. 

Of  course  the  existence  of  such  a  government  on  the  very 
borders  of  this  nation  necessarily  provoked  demonstrations 
and  responses  from  the  American  government.  The  natural 
supposition  should  have  been  that  a  government  with  such  an 
origin  and  history,  with  so  much  resembling  its  own,  would 
have  kindled  into  a  warm  and  glowing  enthusiasm  the  sympa 
thy  and  good  wishes  of  the  United  States.  She  should  have 
eagerly  welcomed  this  young  republic  to  her  side  as  one  of  the 
accompanying  fruits  of  her  own  struggle.  The  welcome  ac 
tually  extended  was,  however,  wholly  different.  Though  the 
Haytien  government  had  been  established  for  several  years 
without  the  presence  of  a  single  hostile  soldier,  and  without 
even  one  alleged  offence,  the  American  Congress  passed,  in 
1806,  an  Act  to  suspend  commercial  intercourse.  The  reasons 
of  this  unfriendly  act  against  a  young  republic,  trying  the  ex 
periment  of  free  government'  under  circumstances  so  peculiar 
and  difficult,  were  more  unworthy  than  the  act  itself.  The 
French  Emperor,  irritated  by  his  defeat  and  great  losses, 
sought  to  secure  unworthy  concessions  from  the  American 
government,  and  to  gain  by  diplomacy  what  he  had  so  sig 
nally  failed  to  secure  by  arms.  He  meant  to  starve  into 
subjection  a  brave  people  whom  he  could  not  coerce.  He 
accordingly  demanded  of  the  United  States  the  immediate 
cessation  of  commerce  with  those  he  styled  "  the  rebels 
of  San  Domingo,  that  race  of  African  slaves,  the  reproach 
and  refuse  of  nature,"  affirming  also  that  he  expected  "  from 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS   INFLUENCED   BY   SLAVERY.  115 

the  dignity  and  candor  of  the  government  of  the  Union,  that 
an  end  be  put  to  it  promptly."  How  was  that  imperious  de 
mand  received  ?  With  the  dignity  which  should  have  marked 
the  conduct  of  a  nation  basing  its  claims  to  nationality  on 
the  public  proclamation  of  the  great  doctrine  of  human  rights 
and  equality  ?  On  the  contrary,  the  demanded  legislation  was 
rushed  through  Congress  with  indecorous  haste  in  less  than 
two  months. 

The  same  temper  and  purpose  of  the  government  were 
exhibited  in  its  attitude  towards  Hayti  in  connection  with  the 
Panama  Congress.  In  his  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  in 
1823,  Mr.  Monroe  announced  as  the  policy  of  the  United 
States,  that  European  powers  would  not  be  permitted  to  inter 
fere  in  the  affairs  of  the  nations  on  the  American  Continent, 
and  that  this  continent  should  not  be  considered  as  subject  to 
future  colonization  by  those  powers.  That  declaration,  known 
as  the  "  Monroe  doctrine,"  inspired  Mexico  and  the  nations 
of  South  America,  struggling  for  independence,  with  great 
confidence  in  the  government  of  the  United  States.  An  invi 
tation  was  extended  on  the  2d  of  November,  by  the  Colombian 
Minister  at  Washington,  to  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  to  send  commissioners  to  the  proposed  Congress  at 
Panama.  Among  the  topics  proposed  for  consideration  was 
the  adoption  of  more  effectual  means  for  "  the  entire  abolition 
of  the  African  slave-trade,  by  a  more  general  and  uniform 
co-operation."  There  was  more  of  force  and  significance 
in  this  request,  from  the  fact  that  the  United  States  had  pro 
posed  a  convention  with  Colombia  for  this  very  purpose,  to 
which  the  latter  had  acceded,  though  as  yet  the  United  States 
had  withheld  its  final  ratification.  That  invitation  was  ac 
cepted  by  Mr.  Adams  ;  and  John  Sergeant  of  Pennsylvania 
and  Richard  C.  Anderson  of  Kentucky  were  nominated  as  com 
missioners,  and  William  B.  Rochester  of  New  York  as  secre 
tary.  The  President  in  his  first  Annual  Message,  in  1825, 
called  the  attention  of  Congress  to  the  Panama  Mission,  and 
so  much  of  his  Message  as  related  to  that  subject  was  referred 
to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs.  It  had  been  announced 
in  the  invitation,  that  among  the  subjects  to  be  considered  at 


116        RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN   AMERICA. 

Panama  were  the  slave-trade  and  the  condition  of  Hayti, 
Cuba,  and  Porto  Rico.  This  committee,  through  its  chairman, 
Mr.  Macon  of  North  Carolina,  made  an  elaborate  report,  writ 
ten  by  Mr.  Tazewell  of  Virginia,  a  member  of  the  committee, 
against  the  expediency  of  the  mission.  The  proposition  to 
meet  the  South  American  States  in  the  proposed  Congress  at 
Panama  intensely  excited  and  aroused  the  slaveholding  in 
terests.  The  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  consequently  em 
bodied  and  expressed  in  their  report  the  opinions  and  purposes 
of  the  Slave  Power.  The  committee  declared  that  the  policy 
of  the  government  towards  Hayti  had  been  fixed  for  more 
than  a  third  of  a  century.  "  We  purchase,"  says  the  report, 
"  coffee  from  her  and  pay  for  it ;  but  we  interchange  no  con 
suls  or  ministers.  We  receive  no  mulatto  consuls  or  black 
ambassadors  from  her ;  and  why  ?  Because  the  peace  of 
eleven  States  in  this  Union  will  not  permit  the  fruits  of  a  suc 
cessful  negro  insurrection  to  be  exhibited  among  them.  It 
will  not  permit  black  consuls  and  ambassadors  to  establish 
themselves  in  our  cities,  and  to  parade  through  our  country, 
and  to  give  their  fellow-blacks  in  the  United  States  proof  in 
hand  of  the  honors  that  await  them  in  a  like  successful  effort 
on  their  part.  It  will  not  permit  the  fact  to  be  seen  and  told, 
that  for  the  murder  of  their  masters  and  mistresses  they  are 
to  find  friends  among  the  white  people  of  the  United  States." 
The  report  proceeded  to  declare  emphatically  that  the  question 
of  Haytien  independence  had  been  determined  ;  that  it  could 
not  be  discussed  "  in  this  chamber  on  this  day  "  ;  and  that 
Congress  should  not  advise  and  consult  in  a  council  with  five 
nations,  who  had  put  a  black  man  on  an  equality  with  the 
white, — "  five  nations,  who  have  at  this  moment  black  gen 
erals  in  their  armies  and  mulatto  members  in  their  con 
gresses." 

The  report  of  the  committee,  declaring  it  inexpedient  to 
send  commissioners  to  Panama,  was  defeated  by  five  majority, 
and  the  Senate,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Mills  of  Massachusetts, 
proceeded  to  consider  the  nominations.  The  question  elicited 
a  very  able  debate,  in  which  senators  representing  the  inter 
ests  of  slavery  enunciated  very  explicitly  the  opinions  and 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS  INFLUENCED   BY   SLAVERY.  117 

purposes  of  the  slaveholding  oligarchy.  In  that  debate  Rob 
ert  Y.  Hayne  of  South  Carolina  took  the  lead.  He  asserted 
that  the  question  of  slavery  was  a  domestic  question,  and  that 
the  language  of  the  United  States  to  foreign  nations  ought 
to  be,  "  We  cannot  permit  it  to  be  touched."  He  declared 
that  he  considered  the  rights  of  the  slaveholding  States 
"  in  that  species  of  property  as  not  open  to  discussion  either 
here  or  elsewhere  "  ;  that  "  to  call  into  question  our  rights 
is  grossly  to  violate  them,  to  attempt  to  instruct  us  on  this 
subject  is  to  insult  us,  to  dare  to  assail  our  institutions 
is  wantonly  to  invade  our  peace."  As  to  the  slave-trade, 
he  congratulated  the  Senate  that  treaties  with  England  and 
Colombia  had  failed.  He  said  that  the  question  of  the  inde 
pendence  of  Hayti  could  not  be  considered  in  connection 
with  revolutionary  governments,  who  had  marched  to  victory 
under  universal  emancipation,  and  had  colored  men  at  the 
head  of  their  armies,  in  their  legislative  halls,  and  in  their 
executive  departments.  He  insisted  that  the  government 
should  direct  "  all  our  ministers  in  South  America  and  Mex 
ico  to  protest  against  the  independence  of  Hayti."  He  de 
nounced  Mr.  Sergeant  as  "  a  distinguished  advocate  of  the 
Missouri  restriction,  an  acknowledged  abolitionist,"  sent  to 
plead  the  cause  of  the  South  at  the  Congress  of  Panama. 

Mr.  Hamilton  of  South  Carolina  affirmed  the  sentiments  of 
the  Southern  people  to  be  that  "  Haytien  independence  is  not 
to  be  tolerated  in  any  form."  Mr.  Johnson  of  Louisiana  was 
equally  explicit  and  decided.  Indeed,  he  went  a  step  further, 
and  avowed  that  the  nation  should  not  recognize  the  indepen 
dence  of  Hayti,  but  that  it  should  remonstrate  with  the  South 
American  governments  and  Mexico  against  such  acknowledg 
ment. 

In  1838,  twelve  years  later,  a  petition  was  presented,  pray 
ing  for  the  usual  recognition  of  international  relations  with 
that  republic.  But  it  was  received  with  the  same  hostile 
demonstrations.  Mr.  Legare'  of  South  Carolina  characterized 
the  petition  as  treason,  and  the  petitioners  "  as  traitors,  not  to 
their  country  only,  but  to  the  whole  human  race."  Mr.  Wise 
of  Virginia  was  equally  violent,  denouncing  the  desire  as 


118       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

"  the  abolition  spirit  "  that  would  have  men  of  such  an  origin 
recognized  by  commercial  and  international  reciprocity.  "Nor 
would  he  do  it,"  he  said,  "  if  they  had  been  free  for  centuries." 
And  this  persistent  and  intolerant  opposition  was  maintained 
before  the  world,  not  only  to  the  manifest  damage  of  national 
reputation,  but  also  to  the  detriment  of  the  commercial  inter 
ests  of  the  country.  "  We  stand  aloof,"  says  Mr.  Grennell, 
"  as  if  they  were  a  lawless  tribe  of  savages.  While  all  other 
powers  have  long  since  acknowledged  them  as  an  independent 
sovereignty,  we  refuse  to  recognize  them.  Others  profit  by 
their  commerce  at  our  expense." 

The  war  of  1812  against  England,  in  its  inception,  progress, 
and  final  treaty  of  peace,  afforded  another  occasion  for  similar 
demonstrations  on  the  part  of  the  slave  interest,  and  a  similar 
subserviency  on  the  part  of  the  government.  The  number  of 
slaves  at  the  time  of  the  declaration  of  war  exceeded  twelve 
hundred  thousand.  From  the  organization  of  the  government 
under  the  Constitution,  in  1789,  they  had  doubled  in  numbers 
and  increased  at  least  fivefold  in  value.  Although  the  slave- 
trade  had  been  prohibited  for  more  than  four  years,  several 
thousands  of  slaves  were  annually  smuggled  into  the  country, 
and  the  domestic  slave-trade  had  largely  increased  under  the 
stimulating  influences  of  the  Louisiana  purchase,  the  opening 
of  new  lands,  and  the  rapid  increase  of  the  cotton  culture. 
The  South,  then  under  the  complete  control  of  the  slave-mas 
ters,  was  gaining  a  like  ascendency  over  the  Federal  govern 
ment,  and  a  dominating  influence  over  the  non-slaveholding 
States. 

On  the  eve  of  the  declaration  of  war  John  Randolph,  speak 
ing  in  opposition  to  it,  bitterly  denounced  the  idea  of  a  war  for 
maritime  rights,  by  the  invasion  of  Canada,  while  the  coast  of 
the  Southern  States  was  exposed  to  the  enemy.  "  While  talk 
ing,"  he  said,  "  of  Canada,  we  have  too  much  reason  to  shud 
der  for  our  safety  at  home.  I  speak  from  facts,  when  I  say  that 
the  night  bell  never  tolls  for  fire  in  Richmond,  that  the  fright 
ened  mother  does  not  hug  her  infant  more  closely  to  her  bosom, 
not  knowing  what  may  have  happened."  He  denounced  "  the 
infernal  principles  of  French  fraternity,"  declared  that  there 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS  INFLUENCED   BY   SLAVERY.  119 

were  not  "  wanting  members  of  this  House  to  preach  on  this 
floor  the  doctrine  of  imprescriptible  rights  to  a  crowded  audi 
ence  of  blacks  in  the  galleries ;  teaching  them  that  they  are 
equal  to  their  masters  ;  in  other  words,  advising  them  to 
cut  their  masters'  throats."  Similar  doctrines,  he  said,  are 
spread  throughout  the  South  by  Yankee  pedlers ;  and  there 
are  even  owners  of  slaves  so  infatuated  as,  by  the  general  tenor 
of  their  conversation,  by  their  contempt  of  order,  morality,  and 
religion,  unthinkingly  to  cherish  these  seeds  of  destruction. 
He  asserted  that  the  whole  South  had  been  thrown,  by  the 
spreading  of  these  infernal  doctrines,  into  a  state  of  insecurity, 
and  that  men,  dead  to  the  operation  of  moral  causes,  had  taken 
from  the  slave  the  habits  of  loyalty  and  obedience  which  light 
ened  his  servitude,  and  were  now  trusting  to  "  the  mere  physi 
cal  strength  of  the  shackle  "  that  holds  him.  "  You  have  de 
prived  him  of  all  moral  restraint,"  he  said ;  "  you  have  tempted 
him  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  just  enough  to  perfect  him 
in  wickedness ;  you  have  opened  his  eyes  to  his  nakedness ; 
you  have  roused  his  nature  against  the  hand  that  has  fed  him 
and  has  clothed  him  and  has  cherished  him  in  sickness,  —  that 
hand  which,  before  he  became  a  pupil  in  your  school,  he  was 
accustomed  to  press  to  his  lips  with  respectful  affection ;  you 
have  done  all  this,  —  and  now  you  point  him  to  the  whip  and 
the  gibbet  as  incentives  to  sullen,  reluctant  obedience."  He 
said  there  was  not  a  spot  on  all  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake 
Bay,  the  city  of  Baltimore  alone  excepted,  safe  from  attack  or 
capable  of  defence  ;  and  he  expressed  the  hope  that  God  would 
forbid  that  the  Southern  States  should  ever  see  on  their  shores 
an  enemy  with  these  "  infernal  principles  of  French  frater 
nity  "in  the  van. 

Whether  the  slaves  had  imbibed  the  infernal  principles  of 
French  fraternity  or  not,  many  availed  themselves  of  the 
presence  of  British  blockading  vessels  in  Southern  waters,  es 
pecially  in  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  to  leave  the  enforced  service 
of  American  masters  and  accept  offers  to  enter  the  British  ser 
vice,  or  to  become  free  settlers  in  the  British  Possessions. 
It  is  stated  by  Mr.  Hildreth,  in  his  History  of  the  United 
States,  that  a  plan  to  take  possession  of  the  isthmus  between 


120        EISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE  POWEB  IN  AMERICA. 

the  Delaware  and  Chesapeake  Bays,  and  there  train  a  black 
army,  was  only  rejected  because  the  British,  being  slavehold 
ers  themselves,  did  not  like  to  encourage  insurrection  else 
where. 

In  the  year  1814  peace  commissioners  were  appointed.  In 
the  instructions  given  these  commissioners  by  Mr.  Monroe,  Sec 
retary  of  State,  they  were  directed  to  be  watchful  of  the  inter 
ests  of  the  slaveholders.  In  his  instructions  of  the  28th  of 
January,  1814,  he  said  "  the  negroes,  taken  from  the  Southern 
States,  should  be  returned  to  their  owners,  or  paid  for  at  their 
full  value."  Indeed,  this  was  one  of  the  conditions  on  which 
they  were  to  insist  in  the  proposed  negotiations.  In  the  treaty 
of  peace,  negotiated  at  Ghent,  the  restoration  of  slaves  was 
expressly  provided  for.  When  it  was  ratified,  on  the  17th 
of  February,  1815,  three  commissioners  were  immediately 
appointed,  to  repair  at  once  to  the  British  squadron  in  the 
Chesapeake  Bay,  with  authority  to  receive  absconding  slaves  on 
board  such  vessels.  The  commander  of  the  squadron  promptly 
and  peremptorily  refused  their  surrender.  The  officer  in  tem 
porary  command  maintained  that  the  treaty  had  no  reference 
to  slaves  who  had  sought  protection  on  board  British  vessels, 
and  that  it  only  applied  to  slaves  "  originally  captured  in  forts 
or  places,  and  who  were  remaining  in  such  forts  or  places  at 
the  time  of  its  ratification  by  the  two  governments." 

On  the  arrival  of  Admiral  Cockburn  the  demand  was  re 
newed  ;  but  he  gave  the  same  interpretation  to  the  treaty, 
though  at  the  same  time  he  surrendered  eighty  slaves  found 
on  Cumberland  Island  when  it  was  captured  by  the  British 
forces,  and  who  had  not  been  removed  at  the  time  of  the 
ratification  of  the  treaty.  Mr.  Monroe,  Secretary  of  State,  at 
once  applied  to  the  English  Charg£  des  Affaires  at  Washington, 
requesting  him  to  direct  the  British  naval  commander  to  sur 
render  the  fugitives.  But  that  officer,  putting  the  same  con 
struction  upon  the  treaty  as  had  been  put  upon  it  by  the  British 
naval  officers,  refused  to  comply  with  the  request.  The  British 
squadron  sailing  for  Bermuda  with  the  fugitives  on  board,  the 
government  immediately  despatched  an  agent,  with  author 
ity  to  demand  of  the  governor  of  that  island  their  surrender. 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS  INFLUENCED   BY   SLAVERY.  121 

To  this  demand  of  the  government  of  the  United  States  for 
the  surrender  of  men  who  had  sought  liberty  and  protection 
under  the  flag  of  England,  the  British  governor  emphatically 
replied  that  he  "  would  rather  Bermuda,  with  every  man,  woman, 
and  child  in  it,  were  sunk  under  the  sea,  than  surrender  one 
slave  that  had  sought  protection  under  the  flag  of  England." 
Notwithstanding  this  brave  and  manly  response,  worthy  alike 
of  the  individual  and  of  the  representative  of  the  British  gov 
ernment,  the  American  agent  still  persisted  in  his  claim,  and 
addressed  the  Admiral  then  in  those  waters,  offering  to  furnish 
him  a  list  of  the  slaves.  But  Admiral  Griffith  assured  Mr. 
Spaulding,  the  agent  of  the  United  States,  that  there  was  no 
one  at  Bermuda  or  any  other  British  port  "  competent  to  de 
liver  up  persons  who,  during  the  late  wars,  had  placed  them 
selves  under  the  protection  of  the  British  flag."  Repulsed  by 
both  the  civil  and  naval  officers  of  England,  the  government 
of  the  United  States  demanded  of  the  British  Cabinet  the  ex 
ecution  of  the  treaty,  as  it  understood  it,  by  the  surrender  of 
fugitive  slaves  who  had  taken  refuge  from  oppression  on  board 
the  vessels  of  that  government.  But  the  demand  was  promptly 
rejected,  and  the  American  government  was  assured  by  Lord 
Castlereagh  that  England  would  never  have  consented  to  a 
treaty  that  required  the  delivery  of  persons  who  had  sought  its 
protection. 

The  government  of  the  United  States,  completely  dominat 
ed  by  the  slaveholders,  persisting  in  its  demands,  the  British 
government  consented  to  refer  the  question  to  the  decision 
of  the  Emperor  of  Russia.  The  Emperor  decided  in  favor 
of  the  construction  of  the  treaty  made  by  the  American  gov 
ernment.  After  further  negotiations  it  was  decided  that  com 
missioners  should  be  appointed,  who  should  hold  their  ses 
sions  in  Washington,  receive  and  adjust  the  claims  presented, 
and  decide  upon  the  number  and  value  of  the  slaves.  The 
commissioners,  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  insisting  on 
interest,  further  negotiations  were  entered  into,  and  the  British 
government  paid  over,  by  the  convention  of  November,  1826, 
more  than  twelve  hundred  thousand  dollars,  in  full  of  all  de 
mands.  Thus,  during  nearly  twelve  years,  the  government  of 

16 


122       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN   AMERICA. 

the  United  States  pressed  upon  the  British  government  the 
payment  in  full  for  persons  who  had  fled  from  the  cruelty  and 
nameless  wrongs  of  chattel  slavery  and  found  freedom  and 
protection  on  the  decks  of  the  British  navy.  To  secure  the 
re-enslavement  of  the  escaping  fugitives,  or  payment  in  full 
for  the  souls  and  bodies  of  these  victims  of  oppression,  the 
American  government  made  its  demands  at  the  negotiations 
at  Ghent,  pressed  them  on  British  admirals,  governors,  charge 
des  affaires,  and  the  British  Cabinet,  before  the  imperial  mas 
ter  of  Russia,  and  even  higgled  for  interest  before  the  joint 
commission  appointed  to  adjust  and  fix  the  price  of  human 
chattels. 


CHAPTER  X. 

INDIAN  POLICY  AFFECTED   BY   SLAVERY.  —  EXILES   OF  FLORIDA. 

Disgraceful  Attitude  of  the  Nation.  —  Escape  of  Slaves  into  Florida.  —  Eeturn 
of  Fugitives  refused.  —  Commissioners  to  negotiate  a  Treaty  with  the  Creeks. 
—  Action  of  Georgia.  —  Protection  demanded.  —  Failure  of  Negotiations.  — 
Treaty  negotiated  at  New  York.  —  Stipulation  for  the  Return  of  Slaves.  — 
Spanish  Authorities  refuse  to  surrender  Slaves.  —  Misconduct  of  Georgia.  — 
Claims  on  England  for  Fugitive  Slaves.  —  Commissioners  appointed  to  meet 
the  Creeks  in  Washington.  —  Annexation  of  Florida  pressed  by  the  Slave 
Power.  —  Amelia  Island  seized  by  Georgia.  —  Expedition  sent  by  Georgia  into 
Florida  to  capture  Fugitives.  —  Raid  into  Florida.  —  Negro  Fort. —  Order  of 
General  Jackson  to  invade  Florida.  —  Negro  Fort  captured.  —  Exiles  killed, 
captured,  and  reduced  to  Slavery.  —  Disgrace  of  the  Nation.  —  General  Jack 
son  enters  Florida.  —  Defeats  the  Indians.  —  Acquisition  of  Florida.  —  Treaty 
of  Indian  Spring.  —  Treaty  of  Camp  Moultrie.  —  Seizure  of  Slaves.  —  Fugi 
tives  captured  by  the  Army.  —  Slave-catchers  permitted  to  hunt  Slaves. 

IT  was  a  standing  charge  against  the  Abolitionists  that  they 
over-estimated  the  evils  of  slavery,  exaggerated  the  wrongs  of 
the  slave,  the  guilt  of  the  master,  and  the  complicity  of  the 
government.  No  accusation  was  ever  more  unfounded.  The 
half  was  never  told.  As  the  civil  war  revealed  a  demoraliza 
tion  of  slaveholding  society  never  attributed  to  it  or  dreamed 
of,  so  do  careful  researches  into  the  history  of  the  country  un 
fold  a  course  of  procedure  indefensible  according  to  any  stand 
ard  of  morality,  however  low,  and  unrelieved  by  any  acts  of 
generosity,  humanity,  or  true  dignity  of  character.  The  dis 
graceful  and  humiliating  attitude  of  the  government  in  its 
dealings  with  foreign  powers  whenever  the  interests  of  slavery 
were  involved  have  been  traced  already.  Its  intercourse  with 
the  Indians,  whenever  these  interests  were  in  issue,  has  exhib 
ited  the  same  determined  devotion  to  the  system,  coupled  with 
deeds  of  wanton  injustice  and  cruelty  towards  a  few  savages, 
whose  real  offence  was  that  of  giving  food  and  shelter  to  black 
men  escaping  from  their  masters. 


124       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

Spanish  settlements  were  made  in  Florida  in  the  year  1558, 
and  slaves  were  soon  after  introduced.  Subsequently  settle 
ments  were  made  on  the  Appalachicola  River  by  slaves  escap 
ing  from  South  Carolina  and  finding  refuge  there.  Obtaining 
lands  from  the  Spanish  government,  they  became  a  part  of  the 
military  defences  of  the  country.  They  also  found  asylums 
among  the  Creek  Indians  in  the  State  of  Georgia.  As  early 
as  1738  South  Carolina  demanded  of  Georgia  a  return  of 
these  fugitives  ;  but  the  demand  was  promptly  rejected. 

Early,  too,  slaves  escaping  from  their  masters  in  Georgia 
found  refuge  with  the  Creeks,  and  with  the  fugitive  slaves 
there  formed  settlements  upon  the  Appalachicola  and  Suwanee 
rivers,  acquired  property  and  became  the  owners  of  flocks  and 
herds.  Indeed,  so  frequent  and  annoying  did  these  escapes 
become,  that  the  Council  of  Safety  early  sent  a  communica 
tion  to  the  Continental  Congress,  asking  for  troops  to  prevent 
them.  General  Lee,  too,  called  the  attention  of  Congress  to 
the  same  evil,  and  also  to  the  fact  that  these  escaping  fugitives 
were  finding  asylums  among  the  Indians  and  the  Florida 
exiles.  Commissioners  were,  in  consequence,  appointed  in 
1785  to  negotiate  a  treaty  with  the  Creek  Indians.  They  were 
met  at  Galphinton  by  commissioners  from  Georgia.  These 
latter  demanded  a  stipulation  for  the  return  of  the  slaves 
who  were  then  with  the  Indians,  and  of  any  who  might  there 
after  escape.  As  the  Creeks  were  not  represented,  the  United 
States  commissioners  declined  to  act,  and  retired.  After  they 
had  left,  however,  the  Georgia  commissioners,  in  direct  viola 
tion  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  made  a  treaty  with  the 
vepresentatives  of  two  townships,  out  of  about  one  hundred  be 
longing  to  the  Creek  nation.  This  treaty,  negotiated  by  per 
sons  without  authority  on  either  part,  provided  that  the  Indians 
should  restore  all  negroes  who  were  then  or  might  thereafter 
come  among  them,  belonging  to  citizens  of  Georgia.  The 
commissioners,  reporting  their  action  to  the  legislature  of  their 
State,  received  its  formal  thanks  for  what  was  done  in  plain 
and  palpable  violation  of  its  confederate  obligations,  while  the 
same  body  recorded  their  condemnation  of  the  United  States 
commissioners)  because  they  refused  to  be  parties  to  a  treaty 
so  fraudulent  and  unauthorized. 


INDIAN  POLICY   AFFECTED   BY   SLAVERY.  125 

In  attempting  to  enforce  this  treaty  Georgia  became  involved 
in  Indian  hostilities,  forcing  then,  as  so  frequently  afterwards, 
the  general  government  to  action,  and  to  espousal  of  her  high 
handed  assaults,  not  merely  upon  the  poor  Creeks,  but  upon 
itself,  as  it  stooped  to  the  ignoble  service  of  recording  and 
enforcing  the  edicts  of  that  ever-grasping  and  contumacious 
State.  The  commissioners  who  were  previously  appointed 
were  now  instructed  to  negotiate  a  treaty  which  should  restore 
all  fugitive  slaves  belonging  to  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

On  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  the 
authorities  of  Georgia  called  upon  the  Federal  government  for 
protection  against  the  Indians,  from  whom  she  claimed  territory 
ostensibly  ceded  by  the  treaties  of  Galphinton  and  Shoulder 
Bone,  though  they  were  wrongfully  obtained  and  promptly 
repudiated  by  those  not  fairly  represented  in  the  fraudulent 
transactions.  President  Washington  appointed  commission 
ers,  and  the  governor  of  Georgia  placed  in  their  hands  the 
names  of  one  hundred  and  ten  negroes,  alleged  to  have  left 
their  masters  during  the  Revolution,  and  to  have  found  an 
asylum  among  the  Indians.  Though  they  were  received  with 
great  respect  by  the  Indians,  their  attempts  at  negotiation  failed. 
Colonel  Willett,  a  Revolutionary  officer,  was  then  sent,  who  suc 
ceeded  in  inducing  a  delegation  to  visit  New  York,  where  a 
treaty  was  negotiated  in  August,  1790.  Framed  in  the  inter 
ests  of  Georgia  slaveholders,  it  stipulated  for  the  return  of 
absconding  slaves.  Thus,  by  a  characteristic  fatality  and 
fatuity,  which  have  ever  marked  its  self-assumed  vassalage 
under  the  new  Constitution,  the  government  placed  the  brand 
of  its  own  dishonor  upon  its  first  exercise  of  the  treaty-mak 
ing  power,  by  prosecuting  its  negotiations  clearly  and  confess 
edly  in  behalf  of  slavery.  By  this  treaty  the  Creek  nation 
pledged  itself  to  deliver  to  the  commander  of  the  United  States 
forces,  stationed  at  a  specified  point,  all  negroes  held  by  them  ; 
and  it  was  further  provided  that  if  they  were  not  delivered  be 
fore  the  1st  of  June,  1791,  the  governor  of  Georgia  might  send 
three  persons  to  claim  and  receive  them.  By  this  treaty,  also, 
which  the  President  fondly  hoped  had  laid  the  foundations  of 
the  future  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  Southwestern  frontier, 


126       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

the  Creeks  had  made  stipulations,  claiming  not  only  to  bind 
the  Seminoles,  another  tribe,  but  that  tribe  residing  in  Florida 
and  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Spain.  These  latter,  however, 
denied  this  assumed  authority,  and  utterly  repudiated  the  pro 
visions  of  the  treaty  the  Creeks  had  presumed  to  make.  Of 
course  the  latter  could  not  fulfil  its  stipulations  without  invad 
ing  Florida  and  forcibly  seizing  those  who  had  sought  to 
secure  their  freedom  under  the  Spanish  crown. 

In  consequence  of  the  persistent  urgency  of  the  Georgia 
slaveholders,  an  agent  was  sent  by  the  Creeks  to  negotiate  for 
the  return  of  the  exiles,  but  the  Spanish  authorities  peremp 
torily  refused  to  surrender  them  again  to  slavery.  The  treaty 
being  thus  repudiated  by  the  Spanish  authorities  and  the  ex 
iles,  Georgia,  failing  to  secure  her  escaping  slaves,  denounced 
it  herself,  and  declared  that  she  would  not  be  bound  by 
what  had  been  adopted  without  consultation  with  her  commis 
sioners.  Accordingly  she  sent  a  military  force  into  the  Creek 
country,  attacked  one  of  their  towns,  killed  some  of  the  people, 
and  burned  their  dwellings.  If  this  conduct  could  be  stripped 
of  all  the  accessories  of  governmental  prestige,  and  the  forms 
and  dialect  of  courts,  and  be  tested  by  the  principles  and  claims 
of  simple  morality,  as  applied  to  the  ordinary  rules  of  human 
conduct,  it  would  be  difficult  to  equal  it  by  any  examples  of 
selfishness,  dishonesty,  wanton  cruelty,  and  disregard  of  the 
clearest  claims  of  humanity,  equity,  and  fair  dealing.  And 
yet,  notwithstanding  all  this,  General  Knox,  Secretary  of  War, 
in  1794,  recommended  to  the  President  that  Congress  should 
make  an  appropriation  for  the  owners  of  these  exiles,  —  a 
proposition  indorsed  by  Washington  in  a  special  message  in 
its  favor.  No  action,  however,  was  taken. 

By  the  Treaty  of  Peace  it  had  been  stipulated  that  the  British 
forces,  in  retiring  from  the  country,  should  not  carry  away 
any  negroes  or  other  property.  The  Southern  slaveholders, 
who  had  lost  several  thousands  of  slaves  during  the  war,  were 
inspired  with  confidence  that  they  would  receive  compensation 
also  for  those  who  had  escaped  to  the  British  West  Indies,  and 
for  those  who  had  enlisted  in  the  British  army.  The  British 
ministry,  however,  firmly  refused  to  negotiate  for  any  such 


INDIAN  POLICY   AFFECTED   BY   SLAVERY.  127 

indemnification.  Exasperated  by  this  refusal,  they  pressed  their 
claims  with  still  greater  pertinacity,  and  by  so  doing  greatly 
embarrassed  the  successive  administrations  of  the  general  gov 
ernment.  Failing  to  defeat  Jay's  Treaty,  which  they  opposed 
because  it  did  not  secure  payment  for  their  absconding  slaves, 
the  Georgia  slaveholders  grew  more  and  more  clamorous  for 
the  return  of  slaves  who  had  found  refuge  in  Florida.  For, 
increasing  in  numbers  and  prosperity,  they  exerted  no  incon 
siderable  influence  upon  their  neighboring  bondmen,  who  very 
naturally  desired  to  share  with  them  the  blessings  of  freedom. 
Pressed,  therefore,  by  the  clamorous  demands  of  the  slave 
holders,  Washington,  in  1796,  appointed  commissioners  to 
meet  the  chiefs  and  head  men  of  the  Creeks  at  Colerain,  for  the 
purpose  of  forming  a  new  treaty.  This  council  was  attended 
by  commissioners  on  the  part  of  Georgia  who,  failing  in  their 
attempts  to  control  by  their  dictation  the  commissioners  of  the 
United  States,  left  the  council  before  the  close  of  its  delibera 
tions.  The  chiefs  of  the  Creek  nation  maintained  that  they 
were  bound  only  to  return  negroes  captured  after  the  Treaty 
of  Peace.  They  declared  that  they  had  delivered  up  all  they 
could,  and  they  expressed  their  willingness  at  some  future  time 
to  deliver  up  other  negroes,  when  they  could  do  so.  Yet, 
neither  the  commissioners  of  the  United  States  nor  of  the  In 
dian  chiefs  at  this  council  said  anything  about  delivering  up 
the  exiles  who  had  fled  into  Florida ;  nor  is  there  any  evidence 
that  the  commissioners  of  Georgia,  at  this  council,  insisted  on 
the  obligations  of  the  Creeks  to  return  the  negroes  residing 
with  the  Seminoles  in  Florida. 

Nor  was  there  any  other  than  the  robber's  right  to  make  any 
such  demand.  For  nearly  half  a  century  —  from  1750,  when 
the  Seminoles  left  Georgia  —  they  had  refused  any  allegiance 
to  that  State,  had  maintained  their  independence,  and  had 
received  the  protection  of  the  Spanish  government.  Such  a 
denial  of  prerogative,  and  such  a  maintenance  of  indepen 
dence  for  so  long  a  time,  would  have  been  sufficient  answer 
to  any  such  claim  among  civilized  nations.  Could  the  far  less 
obvious  and  less  defined  coherence  among  savage  tribes  per 
petuate  an  allegiance  persistently  denied,  and  invalidate  an 


128        RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

independence  so  long  and  so  stoutly  maintained  ?  Surely, 
naught  but  the  exigencies  of  slavery  and  the  sublime  impu 
dence  of  its  defenders  could  ever  have  conceived  of  such  a 
claim,  much  less  have  maintained  it.  And  yet  the  unques 
tionably  false  allegation  that  the  treaty  of  New  York  recog 
nized  that  claim  was  adhered  to,  and  the  interpretation  of 
Georgia  then  and  years  afterward  was  persisted  in,  that  the 
Seminoles  were  bound  by  this  alleged  compact  of  the  Creeks, 
though  they  were  living  under  Spanish  rule. 

Little  was  done,  however,  during  the  administrations  of 
Adams  and  Jefferson,  to  disturb  these  exiles,  and  they  in 
creased  in  numbers  and  prosperity.  But  in  1802  it  was 
enacted,  in  a  new  law  regulating  intercourse  with  Indian  tribes, 
that  the  value  of  any  slave  escaping  and  taking  up  his  resi 
dence  with  any  Indian  tribe  in  the  United  States  should  be 
secured  to  his  master.  Of  course  the  slaves,  who  had  escaped 
into  Florida  from  Georgia,  with  their  children  and  grandchil 
dren  around  them,  excited  the  cupidity  and  hostility  of  the 
Georgia  slaveholders.  But  living  on  Spanish  soil,  and  under 
the  protection  of  Spanish  laws,  they  were  beyond  their  reach. 
To  seek  their  re-enslavement  by  obtaining  jurisdiction  over  this 
territory  became,  then,  the  object  of  effort.  The  annexation  of 
Florida  was,  therefore,  warmly  pressed  by  the  slaveholding  in 
terest  upon  the  government.  Consequently  a  law  was  passed 
in  secret  session,  in  1811,  for  taking  possession  of  Florida  ;  and 
General  Matthews,  a  Georgia  slaveholder,  without  either  per 
mission  or  negotiation,  took  possession  of  Amelia  Island.  The 
government  of  Spain,  of  course,  remonstrated,  and  the  act  was 
disavowed  by  the  President.  Matthews  was  recalled,  and  Gov 
ernor  Mitchell  appointed  a  commissioner,  who  continued  to 
hold  forcible  possession  of  the  island,  in  violation  of  the  claims 
of  national  comity  and  good  faith  towards  the  Spanish  govern 
ment. 

In  1812  the  governor  of  Georgia,  in  like  violation  of  na 
tional  faith,  sent  an  armed  force  into  Florida,  under  the  com 
mand  of  the  adjutant-general  of  that  State,  for  the  utterly 
indefensible  and  outrageous  purpose  of  exterminating  the 
Seminoles,  and  recapturing  the  slaves  whom  the  Indians  would 


EXILES   OF   FLORIDA.  129 

not  surrender.  But  this  force,  meeting  with  little  success,  was 
obliged  to  return  after  having  stolen  a  large  number  of  slaves 
from  their  Spanish  masters.  Those  thus  deprived  of  their 
slaves  urged  their  demands  for  compensation  ;  and  thirty  years 
afterward  John  Quincy  Adams  presented  a  list  of  more  than 
ninety  slaves  thus  stolen.  Georgia,  still  persisting  in  its  pur 
pose,  resolved,*  through  its  legislature,  that  Florida  was  neces 
sary  to  its  safety,  and  an  act  was  passed  to  raise  a  military 
force  to  reduce  St.  Augustine,  and  punish  the  Indians.  A 
military  force  was  therefore  raised,  and  another  raid  into 
Spanish  territory  was  made,  a  few  towns  were  burned,  and 
cornfields  were  destroyed  ;  but  the  expedition  returned,  un 
able  either  to  conquer  Florida,  exterminate  the  Seminoles,  or 
capture  the  hated  exiles. 

Another  circumstance  occurred  soon  after,  not  only  exhibit 
ing  the  same  determination  on  the  part  of  the  slaveholders, 
but  the  humiliating  alacrity  of  the  general  government  to  do 
their  bidding  and  execute  their  ignoble  purpose  upon  the  un 
offending  blacks  and  their  kind  protectors.  During  the  war  of 
1812  a  small  British  force,  under  Lieutenant-Colonel  Nichols, 
landed  in  Florida,  and  built  a  fort  upon  the  Appalachicola  River. 
After  the  close  of  the  war  and  the  withdrawal  of  the  British 
forces  this  fort  was  left  in  possession  of  the  exiles,  whose  plan 
tations  extended  for  many  miles  up  the  river.  In  the  month 
of  May,  1815,  General  Gaines,  commanding  on  the  Southern 
frontier,  wrote  to  the  Secretary  of  War  that  these  exiles  had 
taken  possession  of  that  fort.  He  and  other  officers  kept  watch 
of  this  "  negro  fort,"  and  in  their  correspondence  with  the 
government  denounced  the  negroes  as  runaways  and  outlaws, 
although  they  had  committed  no  offence,  and  were  peaceably 
pursuing  their  own  affairs. 

This  fort,  though  sixty  miles  from  the  frontiers  of  the  United 
States,  greatly  excited  the  attention  of  the  military  authorities, 
who,  like  the  government,  were  in  full  sympathy  with  the 
slaveholders.  In  the  month  of  May,  1816,  General  Jackson 
wrote  to  General  Gaines  that  the  fort  "  ought  to  be  blown  up, 
regardless  of  the  ground  on  which  it  stands ;  and,"  he  added, 
"  if  your  mind  has  formed  the  same  conclusion,  destroy  it,  and 
17 


130       RISE  AND   FALL  OF  THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

return  the  stolen  negroes  and  property  to  their  rightful  own 
ers."  This  permission  to  invade  the  territory  of  a  power  with 
which  the  nation  was  at  peace  was  promptly  acted  upon  by 
General  Gaines.  Colonel  Clinch  with  his  regiment  and  a  few 
hundred  Creek  Indians,  under  Mclntosh,  one  of  their  chiefs, 
entered  Florida  literally  "  to  blow  up  the  fort  and  return  the 
negroes  to  their  rightful  owners."  Commodore  Patterson  de 
tailed  Sailing-Master  Lewis,  with  two  gunboats,  to  assist  the 
military  forces  in  this  slave-catching  foray.  This  military  and 
naval  force,  on  the  27th  of  July,  assaulted  this  "  negro  fort," 
in  which  had  gathered  three  hundred  and  thirty-four  persons, 
many  of  whom  were  women  and  children,  nearly  all  being 
either  negroes  who  had  escaped  from  the  United  States  or  their 
descendants.  After  a  brief  cannonade  a  hot  shot  entered  the 
powder-magazine,  which  blew  up,  instantly  killing  two  hundred 
and  seventy,  and  injuring  all  but  three  others.  Monette,  in  his 
"  History  of  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,"  says  that  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  inmates  were  involved  in  indiscriminate  destruc 
tion  ;  not  one  sixth  of  the  whole  escaped.  "  The  cries  of  the 
wounded,  the  groans  of  the  dying,  with  the  shouts  and  yells  of 
the  Indians,  rendered  the  scene  horrible  beyond  description." 
Those  who  recovered  from  their  wounds  were  delivered  oyer  to 
claimants  in  Georgia.  In  some  instances  they  were  given  up 
to  the  descendants  of  those  who  claimed  to  have  owned  their 
ancestors  generations  before. 

More  than  twenty  years  afterward  Congress  assumed  the 
responsibility  and  guilt  of  this  wicked  and  wanton  act,  and 
passed  without  opposition  a  bill  giving  five  thousand  dollars 
to  the  officers  and  crews  of  the  gunboats  for  their  gallant  con 
duct  in  this  brutal  and  bloody  massacre,  which  will  stand,  in 
the  words  of  Mr.  Giddings,  in  his  "  Exiles  of  Florida,"  "  as 
one  of  the  darkest  crimes  which  stains  the  history  of  any  civil 
ized  nation."  In  this  massacre  it  is  estimated  that  more  than 
one  third  of  the  Florida  exiles  perished,  or  were  re-enslaved. 
Mr.  Clay  and  other  senators  and  representatives  condemned 
this  lawless  invasion  of  Florida,  as  an  act  of  hostility  towards 
Spain ;  but  not  a  voice  was  raised  in  condemnation  of  those 
atrocities  against  the  weak  and  comparatively  defenceless 


EXILES   OF   FLORIDA.  131 

blacks  and  the  Indian  friends  who  shared  their  fate.  So 
strangely  oblivious  had  the  nation  become  to  the  simplest 
claims  of  humanity  and  justice. 

Outrages  so  violent  and  unprovoked  could  of  necessity  be 
neither  forgotten  nor  easily  forgiven.  The  sense  of  such 
wronged  and  outraged  humanity  rankled  in  the  breasts  of  the 
Indians,  and  they  could  not  but  retaliate,  however  hopeless 
their  condition,  and  however  mad  their  attempt  against  a  peo 
ple  so  much  their  superior  in  numbers  and  in  the  arts  of  war 
fare.  They  did  retaliate,  though  but  feebly;  and  yet  their 
hostile  demonstrations  were  seized  upon  as  an  occasion  for 
sending  forces  into  their  country  in  plain  violation  of  inter 
national  law.  In  1817  General  Gaines  was  ordered  to  enter 
Florida,  and  General  Jackson  took  the  field  for  the  subjuga 
tion  of  the  Indians  and  the  exiles.  With  a  large  force  the 
latter  entered  the  country  in  April,  1818,  defeated  the  Indians 
and  exiles,  and  destroyed  several  of  their  towns.  The  ne 
groes,  knowing  there  was  no  alternative  but  death  or  slavery, 
fought  bravely  in  several  actions,  but  were  finally  defeated  at 
Suwanee  River.  The  survivors  retired  towards  the  more 
southern  portions  of  the  Territory.  More  than  half  of  the 
exiles  had  perished,  and  a  vast  amount  of  wretchedness  was 
occasioned  by  this  lawless,  cruel,  and  wicked  invasion.  Not 
only  were  all  domestic  quiet  and  thrift  at  an  end,  and  the 
productive  industry  of  these  people  checked,  but  their  flocks, 
herds,  and  other  property  were  destroyed.  An  inconsiderable 
number  were  captured  and  returned  to  their  greedy  masters. 
But  as  a  people  they  were  unconquered.  They  had  set  the 
government  at  defiance,  and  had  baffled  all  its  attempts  to 
subjugate  them.  Besides,  slaves  still  escaping  from  Georgia 
and  Alabama  were  soon  added  to  their  numbers,  and  they 
seemed  to  the  excited  and  sensitive  slave-masters  a  growing 
menace  on  their  southern  border. 

Baffled  in  their  appeal  to  arms,  the  slave-masters  were  not 
disheartened,  but  determined  to  seek  through  diplomacy  what 
they  could  not  gain  by  military  achievements.  They  therefore 
demanded  the  annexation  of  Florida,  and  an  obsequious  gov 
ernment  purchased  it  by  yielding  its  claim  to  Texas  ;  and 


132        RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

thus  the  Seminoles  and  the  exiles  of  Florida  were  brought 
under  a  control  they  so  much  dreaded,  and  had  so  much  rea 
son  to  dread.  As  if  that  were  not  enough,  the  slaveholders 
pressed  with  redoubled  and  scandalous  importunity  their 
claims  of  indemnity  for  the  slaves  they  had  lost.  Conse 
quently,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  Secretary  of 
War,  a  treaty  was  negotiated  in  1821,  with  the  Creek  Indians 
at  "  Indian  Spring."  By  this  treaty  five  millions  of  acres 
of  valuable  land  were  ceded,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars  were  set  apart  for  the  payment  for  slaves 
claimed  by  Georgia.  Out  of  this  fund  the  claims  of  Georgia 
were  paid  in  1822.  Thus  Georgia,  instead  of  the  punishment 
she  so  richly  deserved  for  her  violent  and  disloyal  conduct 
towards  the  general  government,  as  well  as  for  her  wanton 
outrages  upon  the  Indians  and  the  exiles,  was  paid  for  her 
slaves  from  the  proceeds  of  lands  thus  extorted  from  the 
helpless  victims  of  superior  force  ;  and  though  the  amount 
received,  according  to  Attorney-General  Wirt,  was  three  times 
their  actual  value,  yet  they  clamored  for  the  one  hundred  and 
forty-one  thousand  dollars  held  by  the  United  States,  which 
really  belonged  to  the  Creeks.  And  this  sum  was  afterwards 
paid  to  them. 

In  September,  1822,  General  Jackson  proposed  another  out 
rage  and  act  of  tyrannous  oppression  upon  the  Seminoles ; 
that  they  should  be  united  with  the  Creeks  arid  returned  to 
the  Creek  nation,  because,  he  said,  these  Indian  settlements 
"  would  be  a  perpetual  harbor  for  our  slaves."  He  also  declared 
that  "  these  runaway  slaves  must  be  removed  from  the  Flori- 
das,  or  scenes  of  murder  and  confusion  will  exist."  In  nego 
tiating  the  "  Indian  Spring "  treaty  with  the  Creeks,  that 
nation,  as  seen  above,  was  held  responsible  for  the  conduct 
of  the  Seminoles,  who  against  their  earnest  protest  were 
deemed  and  held  a  part  of  the  nation.  But  having  obtained 
compensation  for  runaway  slaves  from  the  Creeks,  the  govern 
ment,  with  shameless  audacity,  changed  its  position  and  as 
sumed  that  the  Seminoles  were  an  independent  people.  The 
interests  of  slavery  demanded  this  ;  and  Mr.  Calhoun,  regard 
less  of  the  inconsistencies  into  which  it  might  lead  him,  was 


EXILES   OF   FLORIDA.  133 

ever  true  to  slavery.  A  treaty  was  negotiated  with  the 
Seminoles  in  September,  1823,  at  Camp  Moultrie.  By  this 
treaty  the  Indians  were  to  retire  from  the  coast,  where  were 
their  homes  and  property  and  the  graves  of  their  dead,  and 
occupy  a  country  south  of  Tampa  Bay,  where  they  were  prom 
ised  protection  by  the  government  of  the  United  States  against 
"  all  persons  whatsoever." 

By  this  treaty  the  Seminoles  were  compelled  to  stipulate 
"  to  be  active  and  vigilant  in  preventing  the  retreating  to  or 
passing  through  the  country  assigned  them  of  any  absconding 
slave  or  fugitive  from  justice  ;  and  they  further  agree  to  use 
all  necessary  exertions  to  apprehend  and  deliver  the  same  to 
the  agent,  who  shall  receive  orders  to  compensate  them  agree 
ably  to  the  trouble  and  expense  incurred."  The  country 
which  the  exiles  had  cultivated  and  bravely  defended  was 
given  up  to  white  men,  and  they  were  compelled  to  retire  and 
find  their  homes  in  the  swamps  and  forests  of  the  interior. 
Unscrupulous  oppressors  not  only  seized  the  possessions  of 
their  escaped  fugitives,  but  whenever  they  could  seize  the  fugi 
tives  themselves  they  made  them  their  slaves.  Slave-catchers 
sought  by  fraud  and  violence  to  obtain  possession  of  those 
negroes  wherever  they  could  be  found,  as  the  presumption  of 
law  was  that  every  black  man  was  a  slave  unless  he  could 
prove  himself  free.  The  Indians  held  a  few  slaves,  and  these 
were  often  seized  by  the  whites.  They  justly  complained,  but 
having  no  knowledge  of  legal  proceedings,  had  no  remedy. 

The  Secretary  of  War,  in  1825,  issued  an  order  concerning 
fugitive  slaves  among  the  Seminoles,  and  directed  the  Indian 
agent  at  Tallahassee  to  take  measures  to  enable  the  slave 
claimants  to  identify  their  property  so  that  it  might  be  imme 
diately  restored.  This  Indian  agent,  in  obedience  to  his  in 
structions,  emphatically  declared  :  "  Let  the  chiefs  distinctly 
understand  that  they  are  not  to  harbor  runaway  negroes,  and 
that  they  will  be  required  to  give  up  such  negroes  as  are  now 
residing  within  their  limits."  The  military  forces  of  the  United 
States  being  openly  detailed  to  arrest  fugitives,  the  Commis 
sioner  of  Indian  Affairs  at  Washington,  in  1827,  wrote  to 
the  Indian  agent  in  Florida,  reproving  him  for  his  remissness 


134       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

in  making  such  captures.  He  even  went  so  far  as  to  decide 
particular  cases,  and  to  order  the  agent  in  Florida  to  capture 
certain  slaves  then  claimed  by  certain  persons.  The  Indian 
chiefs  complained  that,  contrary  to  the  stipulations  of  the  treaty 
made  at  Camp  Moultrie,  white  men  were  in  their  country 
searching  for  slaves.  To  these  remonstrances  of  the  savage 
chief  against  the  violation  of  the  treaty  the  agent  of  the 
United  States  had  no  other  reply  to  make  than  to  state  the 
fact  that  they  were  there  by  permission  given  them  by  the 
Secretary  of  War.  Thus  these  slave-catchers,  unscrupulous, 
heartless,  and  cruel,  with  the  simple  intent  to  make  money, 
were  by  the  permission  of  the  government  roaming  over  the 
Indian  country,  contrary  to  the  sacred  guaranties  of  the  nation. 
The  rapacity  of  the  slave-traders  increased,  and  outrages 
perpetrated  upon  the  negroes  and  Indians  continued.  A  com 
plete  despotism  reigned.  The  Indians  became  alarmed  and 
indignant  at  these  persistent  aggressions,  and  war  seemed 
again  inevitable. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

THE  MISSOUEI   STRUGGLE.  —  THE   COMPROMISES. 

The  Louisiana  Purchase.  —  Missouri  Territory.  —  Bill  authorizing  the  Territory 
to  form  a  Constitution.  —  Mr.  Tallmadge's  Amendment  prohibiting  Slavery.  — 
Exciting  Debate.  —  Amendment  agreed  to.  —  Inhibition  of  Slavery  stricken 
out  by  the  Senate.  —  Bill  lost.  —  Territory  of  Arkansas  organized.  —  Mr.  Tay 
lor's  Amendment.  —  Bill  introduced  by  Mr.  Scott  to  authorize  Missouri  to 
form  a  Constitution.  —  Maine  and  Missouri  united  in  the  Senate.  —  Mr.  Eob- 
erts's  Amendment  for  the  Inhibition  of  Slavery.  —  Debate  in  the  Senate.  — 
Mr.  Thomas's  Amendment.  —  Amendment  agreed  to.  —  Bill  passed  the  Senate. 
—  House  disagree  to  Senate's  Amendment.  —  Mr.  Taylor's  Amendment.  —  Bill 
passed.  —  Conference  Committee.  —  Prohibition  of  Slavery  defeated  in  the 
House.  —  Prohibition  of  Slavery  north  of  the  Parallel  of  36°  30'  agreed  to.  — 
Triumph  of  the  Slave  Power  complete. 

THE  necessities  of  the  West  and  the  permanent  interests  of 
the  nation  required  that  the  United  States  should  possess  and 
control  the  Mississippi  River  from  its  sources  to  the  Gulf. 
The  acquisition  of  Louisiana  in  1803,  by  which  that  control 
was  obtained,  with  the  full  possession  of  a  vast  and  fertile  ter 
ritory,  was  a  measure  of  transcendent  importance.  Wherever 
settlements  had  been  made,  however,  slavery  had  gained  a 
foothold,  and  it  soon  became  apparent  that  the  geographical 
position  and  fertile  soil  of  this  extensive  domain  would  greatly 
strengthen  the  slaveholders,  who  had  already  secured  a  large 
if  not  a  commanding  influence  in  the  general  government. 
They  who  believed  in  the  perpetuity  of  the  system,  and  de 
sired  to  see  it  protected  and  strengthened,  enthusiastically 
welcomed  this  large  addition  of  territory,  with  the  increased 
value  of  their  sla,ves  which  it  promised,  and  the  augmen 
tation  of  political  power  it  foretokened.  But  far-seeing  states 
men  in  the  North,  though  conceding  the  national  advantages 
of  the  purchase,  rightly  dreaded,  as  the  event  proved,  its  in 
fluence  on  the  free  institutions  of  the  country.  They  plainly 


136       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

foresaw  that  it  would  intensify  the  haughty  and  exacting  spirit 
of  the  class  that  had  assumed,  all  too  successfully,  to  direct  and 
give  character  to  the  policy  of  the  government. 

The  Louisiana  purchase  was  divided  by  act  of  Congress  into 
two  territories  by  the  thirty-third  parallel  of  latitude.  That 
part  which  lay  south  of  the  parallel  was  called  Orleans,  and 
the  part  which  lay  north  of  it  was  called  Louisiana.  When 
the  Territory  of  Orleans  was  admitted  as  a  State,  in  1812,  it 
was  called  Louisiana,  and  the  Louisiana  Territory  received  the 
name  of  the  Missouri  Territory. 

On  the  16th  of  March,  1818,  petitions  were  presented  to  the 
House  of  Representatives  by  citizens  of  Missouri,  praying  that 
the  Territory  might  be  permitted  to  form  a  constitution  and 
be  admitted  into  the  Union.  These  memorials  were  referred 
to  a  select  committee,  of  which  Mr.  Scott,  Territorial  Delegate, 
was  chairman.  This  committee  reported  a  bill  on  the  3d  of 
April ;  but  no  action  was  taken  at  that  session.  At  the  next 
session  a  memorial  was  received  from  the  Territorial  legisla 
ture,  praying  that  Missouri  might  be  permitted  to  form  a  State 
constitution  ;  and  the  House,  in  February,  1819,  proceeded  to 
the  consideration  of  a  bill  to  authorize  it  to  form  a  constitu 
tion  and  enter  the  Union. 

Mr.  Tallmadge  of  New  York  offered  an  amendment  provid 
ing  that  all  persons  born  after  the  admission  of  the  State 
should  be  free  ;  and  also  providing  for  the  gradual  emancipa 
tion  of  persons  then  held  as  slaves.  This  amendment  led  to 
a  sharp  and  prolonged  debate,  when  Mr.  Tallmadge  modified 
his  amendment  so  as  to  provide  that  the  further  introduction 
of  slavery  be  prohibited,  and  that  all  children  born  within  the 
State  after  its  admission  shall  be  free  at  the  age  of  twenty-five 
years.  Mr.  John  W.  Taylor  of  New  York,  afterward  Speaker 
of  the  House,  maintained  that  Congress  had  full  power  to  pro 
hibit  the  introduction  of  slavery  as  a  condition  of  admission, 
and  that  it  would  be  wise  to  use  that  power.  He  reminded  the 
opponents  of  prohibition  that  they  had  often  disclaimed  the  sin 
of  the  original  introduction  of  slavery,  and  had  thrown  it  back 
upon  their  ancestors.  "  If  they  have  tried  slavery,"  he  said, 
"  and  found  it  a  curse  ;  if  they  desire  to  dissipate  the  gloom 


THE   MISSOUEI   STRUGGLE.  —  THE   COMPROMISES.  137 

with  which  it  covers  their  land,  I  call  upon  them  to  exclude  it 
from  the  territory  in  question,  —  plant  not  its  seeds  in  this  un- 
corrupt  soil ;  let  not  our  children,  looking  back  to  the  proceed 
ings  of  this  day,  say  of  us,  as  we  have  been  constrained  to  say 
of  our  fathers,  '  We  wish  their  decision  had  been  different.' ' 

Mr.  Clay,  then  Speaker  of  the  House,  earnestly  opposed  the 
amendment,  and  emphatically  asserted  that  Congress  had  no 
right  whatever  to  prescribe  any  condition  to  the  newly  organ 
ized  States,  but  must  admit  them  by  a  single  act,  leaving  their 
sovereign  rights  unrestricted.  Mr.  Fuller  of  Massachusetts,  a 
lawyer  of  eminence,  father  of  Margaret  Fuller  D'Ossoli,  thought 
the  amendment  implied  nothing  more  than  that  the  constitu 
tion  of  Missouri  should  be  republican.  He  maintained  with 
clearness  and  ability  that  the  exclusion  of  all  colored  men  from 
political  freedom  and  making  them  property  was  a  palpable 
invasion  of  right  and  an  utter  abandonment  of  principle  and 
duty. 

It  was  strenuously  maintained  by  Philip  P.  Barbour  of  Vir 
ginia,  afterward  Speaker  of  the  House  and  judge  of  the  Su 
preme  Court  of  the  United  States,  that  Congress  had  no  con 
stitutional  right  to  enact  the  proposed  amendment ;  and,  if  it 
had  the  power,  it  would  be  highly  impolitic  and  unjust  to  ex 
ercise  it.  This  eminent  lawyer  and  jurist,  however,  expressly 
admitted  that  Congress,  having  the  power  to  make  all  needful 
rules  and  regulations  respecting  the  Territories,  had  also  the 
power  to  "  establish  the  principle  now  proposed  "  in  the  em 
bryo  State,  while  it  continued  to  be  a  Territory. 

"  An  opportunity  is  now  presented,"  said  Mr.  Livermore  of 
New  Hampshire,  "  if  not  to  diminish,  at  least  to  prevent  the 
growth  of  a  sin  that  sits  heavy  on  the  soul  of  every  one  of  us. 
By  embracing  this  opportunity  we  may  retrieve  the  national 
character,  and  in  some  degree  our  own.  But  if  we  suffer  it 
to  pass  unimproved,  let  us  at  least  be  consistent,  and  declare 
that  our  Constitution  was  made  to  impose  slavery,  and  not  to 
establish  liberty.  Let  us  no  longer  tell  idle  tales  about  the 
abolition  of  slavery  ;  away  with  colonization  societies,  if  their 
design  is  only  to  rid  us  of  free  blacks  and  turbulent  slaves. 
Have  done,  also,  with  Bible  societies,  whose  views  are  extended 

18 


138       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

to  Africa  and  the  East  Indies,  while  they  overlook  the  deplora 
ble  condition  of  our  sable  brethren  within  our  own  borders. 
Make  no  more  laws  to  prohibit  the  importation  of  the  slaves,  for 
the  world  must  see  that  the  object  of  such  laws  is  alone  to  pro 
hibit  the  glutting  of  a  prodigious  market  of  the  flesh  and  blood 
of  man,  which  we  are  about  to  establish  in  the  West,  and  to 
enhance  the  price  of  sturdy  wretches,  raised  like  black  cattle 
and  horses,  on  our  own  plantations,  for  sale."  The  amend 
ment  was  sustained  by  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  by  a  vote 
of  seventy-nine  to  sixty-seven. 

On  the  16th  of  the  same  month  this  earnest  and  exciting 
debate  was  resumed.  Mr.  Scott,  the  delegate  from  Missouri, 
spoke  at  great  length  against  the  prohibition  of  slavery.  He 
talked  of  the  Ides  of  March,  and  warned  Congress  that  the 
amendment  was  "  big  with  the  fate  of  Caesar  and  of  Rome." 
Mr.  Colston  of  Virginia  was  especially  excited  and  violent. 
He  accused  Mr.  Livermore  of  speaking  to  the  galleries,  and, 
by  his  language,  of  attempting  to  excite  a  servile  war ;  and 
insolently  declared  that  he  was  "  no  better  than  Arbuthnot 
and  Ambrister,  and  deserved  no  better  fate."  During  that 
debate  Mr.  Cobb  of  Georgia  asserted  with  much  feeling  that 
if  the  friends  of  the  amendment  persisted  the  Union  would 
be  dissolved.  "  They  were  kindling  a  fire,"  he  said,  "  which 
all  the  waters  of  the  ocean  could  not  extinguish.  It  could  be 
extinguished  only  in  blood." 

The  debate  was  closed  by  the  mover  of  the  amendment  in  a 
speech  of  great  boldness  and  vigor.  In  reply  to  Mr.  Cobb  he 
said :  "  If  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  must  take  place,  let  it 
be  so  !  If  civil  war,  which  gentlemen  so  much  threaten,  must 
come,  I  can  only  say,  Let  it  come !  My  hold  on  life  is  proba 
bly  as  frail  as  any  man  who  hears  me  ;  but  while  that  life  lasts 
it  shall  be  devoted  to  the  service  of  my  country,  to  the  freedom 
of  man.  If  blood  is  necessary  to  extinguish  any  fire  which  I 
have  assisted  to  kindle,  I  can  assure  gentlemen,  while  I  regret 
the  necessity,  I  shall  not  forbear  to  contribute  my  mite." 
The  portion  of  the  amendment  forbidding  the  introduction  of 
slavery  was  then  adopted  by  a  vote  of  eighty-seven  to  seventy- 
six.  The  second  portion  of  the  amendment,  by  which  chil- 


THE   MISSOURI   STRUGGLE.  —  THE   COMPROMISES.  139 

dren  born  after  the  admission  of  the  State  should  be  made  free 
at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  was  adopted  by  eighty -two  to  seventy- 
six,  and  the  bill  was  then  passed  by  ninety-seven  to  fifty-six. 

The  Senate,  on  the  27th  of  February,  struck  out  of  the  bill 
that  portion  of  Mr.  Tallmadge's  amendment  making  children 
free,  born  after  the  admission  of  the  State,  by  thirty-one  to 
seven  ;  and  the  portion  excluding  slavery,  by  twenty-two  to 
sixteen. 

The  House,  by  a  majority  of  two,  refused  to  concur  with  the 
Senate  in  striking  out  the  prohibition.  The  Senate,  however, 
adhering  to  its  amendment,  Mr.  Taylor  moved  that  the  House 
adhere  to  its  disagreement,  and  sustained  his  motion  by  a 
vigorous  speech,  in  which  he  was  strongly  supported  by  Mr. 
Tallmadge,  and  Mr.  Mills  of  Massachusetts.  The  House 
adhered  by  twelve  majority,  and  the  bill  was  lost. 

In  the  following  December  Mr.  Robertson  of  Kentucky 
moved  that  the  House  appoint  a  committee  to  consider  the 
expediency  of  establishing  a  Territorial  government  over  so 
much  of  the  Missouri  Territory  as  lay  south  of  the  parallel 
of  36°  30'.  The  committee,  being  appointed,  reported  a  bill 
providing  a  Territorial  government  for  the  southern  part  of 
the  Missouri  Territory,  to  be  called  the  Territory  of  Arkan 
sas.  When  it  came  up  for  consideration,  Mr.  Taylor  moved 
the  prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  proposed  Territory.  This 
amendment  gave  rise  to  a  heated  debate.  Mr.  Clay  expressed 
his  deep  regret  at  its  introduction,  and  charged  its  supporters 
with  being  under  the  influence  of  negrophobia.  Mr.  Nelson 
of  Virginia  charged  its  friends  with  fighting  behind  a  masked 
battery.  It  was,  he  thought,  an  entering  wedge  to  prepare 
the  way  for  an  attack  by  Congress  on  the  property  of  masters 
in  their  slaves  in  the  several  States. 

An  earnest  appeal  was  made  by  Mr.  Taylor  for  the  inhibi 
tion  of  slavery.  Mr.  Walker  of  North  Carolina  declared  if 
Southern  men  were  prohibited  from  taking  their  slaves  into 
the  Territory,  their  "  land  would  be  an  uncultivated  waste,  a 
fruitless  soil  "  ;  but  if  its  slaves  were  freely  permitted  to  go 
beyond  the  Mississippi,  then  "  your  lands,"  he  said,  "  will  be 
sold,  your  soil  will  be  cultivated,  and  your  country  will  flour- 


140        EISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

ish."  Louis  McLane  of  Delaware  denied  the  power  of  Con 
gress  to  prohibit  slavery  in  the  Territories,  or  to  make  such 
prohibition  a  condition  of  admitting  a  State  into  the  Union. 
He  even  maintained  the  extreme  position  of  denying  the  right 
of  any  State  to  emancipate  slaves.  He  asked :  "  What  would 
be  said  of  the  legislature  of  the  State  of  Delaware  or  Mary 
land,  if,  by  law,  they  were  to  declare  all  the  slaves  within 
their  limits  to  be  free  ?  Could  it  be  pretended  for  a  moment 
that  they  would  have  any  right  to  do  so  ?  " 

So  much  of  Mr.  Taylor's  amendment  as  prohibited  the  intro 
duction  of  slavery  was  rejected  by  the  close  vote  of  seventy  to 
seventy-one  ;  but  so  much  as  provided  that  all  children  born 
slaves  should  be  free  at  the  age  of  twenty-five  was  agreed  to 
by  a  majority  of  two.  Mr.  Williams  of  North  Carolina  moved 
a  reconsideration  ;  but  his  motion  failed  by  the  same  majority. 
It  was  then  moved  by  Mr.  Robertson  to  recommit  the  bill  to  a 
select  committee,  with  instructions  to  strike  out  the  amend 
ments  ;  and  this  motion  was  carried  by  the  casting  vote  of  the 
Speaker.  The  committee  to  whom  the  bill  was  recommitted 
consisted  of  Robertson  of  Kentucky,  Silsbee  and  Mills  of 
Massachusetts,  Burwell  of  Virginia,  and  Lowndes  of  South 
Carolina.  Thus  Mr.  Clay,  who  had  been  in  favor  of  exclud 
ing  slavery  from  Kentucky,  and  who  professed  to  believe 
"  slavery  to  be  a  wrong,  a  grievous  wrong,  no  contingency  can 
make  right,"  not  only  secured  this  recommitment  by  his  cast 
ing  vote,  but  constituted  the  committee  hostile  to  the  humane 
provisions  of  the  amendment.  This  action  reveals  and  illus 
trates  the  sacrifices  of  principle  and  of  conscience  which  the 
aspiring  public  men  of  the  nation  have  been  compelled  to 
make,  in  order  to  secure  the  favor  and  support  of  the  exact 
ing  and  dominating  Power  which  so  long  and  so  completely 
dictated  what  the  policy  and  who  the  rulers  of  the  nation 
should  be. 

The  committee  reported  in  favor  of  striking  out  the  amend 
ment  ;  but  the  House,  by  a  majority  of  two,  voted  to  sustain 
it.  It  was  then  moved  by  Mr.  Taylor  that  neither  slavery  nor 
involuntary  servitude  should  be  introduced  into  the  Territory. 
This  amendment  was  supported  by  Mr.  Pitkin  of  Connecticut, 


THE  MISSOURI   STRUGGLE.  —  THE   COMPROMISES.  141 

and  opposed  by  Mr.  Whitman  of  Massachusetts,  who  had  voted 
for  the  prohibition  of  slavery  in  Missouri.  It  was  lost,  how 
ever,  by  a  vote  of  eighty-six  to  ninety.  It  was  then  proposed 
by  Mr.  Taylor  to  prohibit  slavery  in  all  the  territory  north  of 
36°  30' ;  but  after  an  excited  debate  he  withdrew  his  proposi 
tion,  and  the  bill  passed  without  any  restriction.  When  it 
came  up  for  consideration  in  the  Senate,  Mr.  Roberts  of  Penn 
sylvania  moved  to  prohibit  slavery.  His  amendment  was 
defeated  by  a  majority  of  five,  and  Arkansas  became  a  slave- 
holding  Territory,  and  the  South  again  triumphed. 

The  XYIth  Congress  met  on  the  6th  of  December,  1819.  On 
motion  of  Mr.  Scott,  the  memorials  in  favor  of  the  admis 
sion  of  Missouri  as  a  State  were  referred  to  a  select  commit 
tee,  consisting  of  himself,  Robertson  of  Kentucky,  Terrill  of 
Georgia,  Strother  of  Virginia,  and  De  Witt  of  New  York,  one 
member  only  being  from  the  free  States.  On  the  9th  Mr.  Scott 
reported  a  bill  for  its  admission  on  an  equal  footing  with  the 
original  States. 

In  the  Senate  the  memorial  of  the  Territorial  legislature  of 
Missouri  was  referred  to  the  Judiciary  Committee,  of  which 
Mr.  Smith  of  South  Carolina  was  chairman.  This  committee 
reported  the  House  bill  for  the  admission  of  Maine,  with  an 
amendment  authorizing  the  people  of  Missouri  to  form  a  State 
constitution.  The  bill  coming  up  for  consideration,  Mr.  Rob 
erts  of  Pennsylvania  moved  to  recommit  it,  with  instructions  to 
leave  out  the  amendment.  This  motion  was  supported  by 
Mellen  and  Otis  of  Massachusetts,  Burrill  of  Rhode  Island, 
Dana  of  Connecticut,  and  opposed  by  Smith  of  South  Caro 
lina  and  Lloyd  of  Maryland,  but  was  lost  by  a  majority  of 
seven. 

The  consideration  of  the  bill  was  resumed  in  the  Senate, 
and  Mr.  Roberts  moved  to  amend  it  by  the  provision  that  the 
introduction  of  slavery  should  be  absolutely  and  irrevocably 
prohibited,  supporting  his  amendment  in  a  very  able  and  for 
cible' speech.  Mr.  Elliot  of  Georgia,  however,  declared  the 
contemplated  restriction  to  be  "  unauthorized  by  the  Constitu 
tion,  in  contravention  of  a  solemn  treaty  ;  and  opposed  by  the 
suggestions  of  sound  policy."  Mr.  Lowrie  of  Pennsylvania 


142        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN   AMERICA. 

said,  if  the  alternative,  as  intimated  by  the  opponents  of 
slavery  restriction,  were  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  or  the 
extension  of  slavery  over  the  whole  Western  territory,  "  I 
will  choose  the  former,  though  the  choice  is  one  that  fills  my 
mind  with  horror."  The  proposition  was  advocated  by  Mor- 
rill  of  New  Hampshire,  Mellen  of  Massachusetts,  and  Burrill 
of  Rhode  Island ;  and  opposed  by  Walker  of  Georgia,  Macon. 
of  North  Carolina,  and  Pinkney  of  Maryland. 

Mr.  Otis  of  Massachusetts,  though  he  had  voted  for  the 
admission  of  Missouri  at  the  previous  session,  now  made  a  most 
earnest  and  eloquent  speech  in  favor  of  prohibition,  closing  with 
the  declaration  that  he  was  "  unable  to  agree  to  any  measure 
which  should  counteract  the  spirit  of  the  age  by  increasing  the 
mischief  of  slavery  to  a  degree  boundless  in  extent  and  per 
petual  in  duration,  and  to  entail  on  posterity  a  scourge  for  which 
we  reproach  the  memory  of  our  ancestors."  Mr.  Ruggles  of 
Ohio  declared,  in  *  the  same  strain,  that  "this  day's  legislation 
is  not  to  perish  with  us,  —  it  is  to  endure  for  centuries.  The 
people  of  Missouri  fifty  years  hence  will  trace,  not  to  a  British 
king,  not  to  a  corrupt  British  Parliament,  but  to  Congress,  the 
evils  of  slavery." 

On  the  other  hand,  with  equal  if  not  greater  positiveness 
and  feeling,  Southern  members  opposed  the  amendment.  Mr. 
Smith  of  South  Carolina  characterized  the  efforts  against  the 
extension  of  slavery  as  "  the  misguided  influences  of  fanati 
cism  and  humanity."  Mr.  Yan  Dyke  of  Delaware,  though 
his  State  had  adopted  resolutions  in  favor  of  the  restriction, 
now  made  a  constitutional  argument  against  the  amendment. 
Mr.  James  Barbour  of  Virginia,  afterward  Secretary  of  War, 
and  Minister  to  England  under  the  administration  of  John 
Quincy  Adams,  spoke  at  great  length  against  the  restriction. 
Though,  like  most  of  the  Virginia  statesmen  of  that  day, 
admitting  that  slavery  was  mixed  with  good  and  evil,  —  the 
latter  greatly  predominating,  —  he  charged  that  the  advocates 
of  restriction  were  violating  the  Constitution,  trampling  under 
foot  the  plighted  faith  of  the  nation,  inflicting  an  immeasur 
able  act  of  injustice  on  one  half  of  the  country,  and  laying  the 
foundation  of  an  incurable  hatred.  Richard  M.  Johnson  of 


THE   MISSOURI   STRUGGLE.  —  THE   COMPROMISES.  143 

Kentucky,  afterward  Vice-President  of  the  United  States, 
declared  that  "  the  friends  of  prohibition  would  check  the 
progress  of  humanity,  tighten  the  bands  of  the  captive,  pro 
long  the  time  of  slavery,  and  augment  its  evils,  excite  every 
discordant  passion  of  the  soul,  and  produce  jargon,  animosity, 
and  strife."  The  vote  was  then  taken  on  Mr.  Roberts' s  amend 
ment  prohibiting  slavery  in  Missouri,  and  it  was  defeated  by 
nine  majority. 

During  the  debate  Rufus  King,  who  had  again  entered  the 
Senate  from  New  York,  made  two  elaborate  and  powerful 
speeches  in  favor  of  the  inhibition  of  slavery  in  the  new 
States.  They  were  regarded  as  the  fullest,  most  thorough, 
and  exhaustive  presentations  made  in  that  debate.  John 
Quincy  Adams,  who  heard  them,  said  that  he  unravelled  with 
ingenious  and  subtle  analysis  many  sophistical  tissues  of  the 
slaveholders,  and  laid  down  the  position  of  the  natural  lib 
erty  of  man,  and  its  incompatibility  with  slavery  ;  and  that  the 
great  slaveholders  gnawed  their  lips  and  clenched  their  fists  as 
they  heard  him.  William  Pinkuey,  the  distinguished  Mary 
land  lawyer  and  orator, — who  had  declared,  thirty  years  before, 
that  "  if  slavery  continues  fifty  years  longer  its  effects  will  be 
seen  in  the  decline  of  the  spirit  of  liberty  in  the  free  States,"  — 
addressed  the  Senate  for  three  hours,  in  a  speech  of  great  elo 
quence  and  power,  against  its  prohibition  in  Missouri. 

The  Senate  having  by  a  majority  of  two  voted  to  join  Maine 
and  Missouri  in  the  same  bill,  Mr.  Thomas  of  Illinois  moved 
an  amendment  providing  that  in  all  the  country  ceded  by 
France  to  the  United  States  north  of  36°  30'  there  should  be 
neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude.  Mr.  Trimble  moved 
to  amend  the  amendment  by  excluding  slavery  from  all  the 
territory  west  of  the  Mississippi  River,  excepting  Louisiana, 
Arkansas,  and  Missouri ;  but  it  was  rejected.  Mr.  Thomas's 
amendment  was  adopted  by  a  decided  majority,  and  the  bill 
was  passed  by  a  vote  of  twenty-four  to  twenty. 

The  bill  was  taken  up  in  the  House  on  the  26th  of  January, 
and  Mr.  Storrs  moved  to  amend  it  so  as  to  prohibit  slavery 
north  of  the  parallel  of  38°  west  of  the  Mississippi.  Mr.  Tay 
lor,  moving,  as  an  amendment,  that  there  should  be  neither 


144       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  in  the  State,  made  an  elab 
orate  argument  in  its  support.  He  was  immediately  followed 
by  Mr.  Holmes,  who,  though  a  representative  from  Massachu 
setts,  was  found  willing  to  lead  off  in  the  opposition.  He  de 
clared,  if  he  was  reduced  to  the  alternative  of  holding  slaves 
in  Missouri  or  violating  the  Constitution  of  his  country,  he 
would  not  permit  "  a  doubt  to  cloud  his  choice."  Thus  was 
opened  that  remarkable  debate  in  the  popular  branch  of  Con 
gress  which,  estimated  by  the  test  of  substantial  ability  or  of 
wide-spread  and  far-reaching  results,  finds  few  equals  in  the 
legislative  history  of  the  nation. 

Freedom  found  worthy  representatives  and  advocates.  Penn 
sylvania,  true  to  her  then  proud  and  traditional  pre-eminence, 
spoke  manly  words  through  the  distinguished  representative 
and  lawyer  of  Philadelphia,  John  Sergeant,  who  said  that 
he  was  not  afraid  of  what  is  called  popular  excitement. 
Believing  that  all  history  teaches  that  revolutions  are  not 
the  work  of  men,  but  of  time  and  circumstances,  he  said  : 
"  Nothing  can  present  a  more  frightful  indication  than  public 
indifference  to  such  a  question  as  this.  It  is  not  by  rigorously 
maintaining  great  moral  and  political  principles  in  their  purity 
that  we  incur  danger."  "  Let  the  standard  of  freedom,"  he 
said,  "  be  planted  in  Missouri  by  the  hands  of  the  Constitution, 
and  let  its  banner  wave  over  the  heads  of  none  but  freemen, 
—  men  retaining  the  image  impressed  upon  them  by  their 
Creator,  and  dependent  upon  none  but  God  and  the  laws. 
Then,  as  our  republican  States  extend,  republican  principles 
will  go  hand  in  hand  with  republican  practice,  the  love  of 
liberty  with  the  sense  of  justice." 

Mr.  Hemphill,  also  of  Pennsylvania,  made  a  learned  and  ex 
haustive  argument  in  favor  of  Mr.  Taylor's  amendment.  Mr. 
Cook  of  Illinois  believed  the  measure  had  originated  in  the 
best  and  noblest  motives, —  motives  dictated  by  humanity  and 
the  well-being  of  the  nation.  Though  opposing  the  popular 
feeling  of  Missouri,  he  said  :  "  I  believe,  if  the  voice  of  futurity 
could  be  heard,  I  should  receive  her  approbation  and  her  grati 
tude.  She  might  come  from  the  wilderness,  with  her  locks 
wet  with  the  dews  of  the  night,  and  knock  at  your  door  for 


THE   MISSOURI   STRUGGLE.  —  THE   COMPROMISES.  145 

admittance  till  she  falls  with  weakness ;  and,  unless  she  comes 
in  the  white  robes  of  freedom  and  a  pledge  against  the  future 
evils  of  slavery,  with  my  consent  she  will  not  be  admitted." 

On  the  other  hand,  Slavery  put  forth  her  strong  men  to  plead 
her  cause  and  dragoon  the  government  into  submission  to 
her  haughty  behests.  Of  course  Mr.  Clay's  clarion  voice  was 
heard  loudest  in  the  din  of  strife,  summoning  his  countrymen, 
in  the  sacred  name  of  patriotic  devotion  to  the  nation,  to  fol 
low  his  lead,  as  he  consecrated  talents,  position,  and  influence 
at  the  shrine  of  the  exacting  Power  that  claimed  the  cruel 
sacrifice.  He  spoke  for  four  hours  against  the  expediency 
and  right  of  restriction.  Mr.  McLane  of  Delaware  spoke  in 
the  same  strain.  Mr.  Reid  of  Georgia  declared  that  the  wel 
fare  and  security  of  the  citizens  forbade  emancipation  ;  though 
he  would  hail  the  day  as  the  most  glorious  in  its  dawning  which 
should  behold,  with  safety  to  its  white  citizens,  the  black  popu 
lation  placed  on  the  high  elevation  of  equal  rights  and  clothed 
with  the  privileges  of  American  citizens. 

Mr.  Hardin  of  Kentucky  accused  the  advocates  of  prohibi 
tion  of  fighting  under  false  colors.  "  It  would  be  more  mag 
nanimous,"  he  said,  "  to  haul  down  the  colors  on  which  are 
engraven  humanity,  morality,  and  religion,  and  unfurl  the 
genuine  banner,  on  which  is  written  a  contest  for  political  con 
sequence  and  mastery."  General  Smythe  of  Virginia,  whose 
speeches  were  more  remarkable  for  length  and  dulness  than  for 
other  qualities,  declared  that  he  would  not  apologize  for  the 
length  of  his  speech  on  that  occasion  ;  for  he  had  spoken  "  to 
preserve  our  citizens  from  massacre,  our  wives  and  daughters 
from  violation,  and  our  children  from  being  impaled  by  the 
most  inhuman  of  savages." 

John  Tyler,  afterward  President  of  the  United  States,  always 
a  pliant  instrument  of  the  Slave  Power,  and  a  rebel  in  the  late 
rebellion,  appealed  to  the  Northern  republicans  to  pause  and 
remember  that  their  triumph  was  to  be  over  their  firm  and 
steadfast  friends  of  the  South.  He  maintained  that  slaves 
were  guaranteed  as  property  in  the  Constitution.  Northern 
gentlemen,  he  said,  should  "  not  forget  themselves.  Rail  at 
slavery  as  much  as  you  please.  I  point  you  to  the  Constitu- 

19 


146       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

tion,  and  say  to  you  that  you  have  not  only  acknowledged  our 
right  to  this  species  of  property,  but  you  have  gone  much  fur 
ther  and  have  bound  yourselves  to  rivet  the  chains  of  the  slave." 
He  told  the  friends  of  prohibition  that  they  might  return  to 
their  constituents  and  receive  votes  of  thanks ;  but,  instead  of 
blessings,  the  deepest  curses  of  posterity  would  be  uttered 
against  their  destructive  policy. 

In  the  midst  of  the  debate,  which  had  run  for  nearly  a  month, 
the  House  bill  for  the  admission  of  Maine  was  returned,  with 
an  amendment  authorizing  the  people  of  Missouri  to  form  a 
State  government.  Mr.  Taylor  moved  that  the  House  disagree, 
while  Mr.  Scott  moved  that  it  be  referred  to  the  committee  of 
the  whole,  which  had  under  consideration  the  Missouri  bill. 
After  a  brief  debate,  Mr.  Scott's  amendment  was  rejected  by  a 
decisive  majority.  The  House  resuming  the  consideration  of" 
the  Maine  and  Missouri  bill,  John  Randolph  made  a  long  speech 
against  the  Senate's  amendment  excluding  slavery  north  of  36° 
30'.  The  next  day  the  House  disagreed  to  the  Senate's  amend 
ment  uniting  the  bills  for  the  admission  of  Maine  and  Missouri, 
while  so  much  of  the  amendment  as  prohibited  slavery  from 
territory  north  of  36°  30'  was  disagreed  to,  and  the  debate  was 
resumed. 

Mr.  Plummer  of  New  Hampshire,  in  reply  to  Mr.  Clay,  who  had 
warned  the  men  of  New  England  not  to  intrude  upon  him  their 
New  England  notions,  declared  that  those  notions  were  liberty, 
equality,  and  the  rights  of  man.  "  These  are  the  notions,"  he 
said,  "  which  we  must  cast  aside  when  we  leave  our  happy 
homes,  and  which,  if  by  chance  they  find  their  way  into  this 
hall,  are  to  be  repelled  with  the  charge  of  fanaticism,  folly,  and 
negrophobia.  Sir,  if  there  be  any  madness  in  this  case,  it  is 
the  madness  of  those  who  hug  slavery  to  their  bosoms.  If 
there  be  any  infatuation,  it  is  the  infatuation  of  those  who  are 
willing  to  dissolve  the  Union  rather  than  not  extend  this  pestif 
erous  institution  beyond  the  Mississippi."  Mr.  Fuller  of  Mas 
sachusetts  said,  if  Missouri  would  be  strong  in  war,  let  her 
invite  only  freemen,  who  will  defend  their  families  and  their 
freedom  ;  "  not  slaves,  who  can  seek  their  own  happiness  only 
by  withering  the  arm  that  holds  them  in  bondage." 


THE  MISSOURI   STRUGGLE.  —  THE   COMPROMISES.  147 

On  the  28th  of  February  it  was  announced  to  the  House 
that  the  Senate  insisted  on  its  amendment ;  when,  on  motion 
of  Mr.  Taylor,  it  was  voted  to  adhere  to  its  disagreement  by 
a  majority  of  twenty-one.  Proceeding  to  the  consideration  of 
the  bill,  the  House  rejected  Mr.  Storrs's  amendment  exclud 
ing  slavery  from  territory  north  of  36°  30'.  Mr.  Allen  of  Mas 
sachusetts  moved  to  amend  the  bill  by  striking  out  the  word 
"white,"  so  as  to  extend  the ' privilege  of  voting  to  all  male 
citizens,  supporting  his  amendment  by  a  speech  of  some  length. 
His  amendment,  however,  received  only  his  own  vote.  Both 
Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Storrs  sought  such  a  modification  of  Mr. 
Taylor's  amendment,  already  adopted,  as  to  make  it  a  mere 
recommendation.  Though  they  supported  their  proposition 
with  great  earnestness,  it  failed  of  receiving  the  sanction  of 
the  House.  On  the  next  day  Mr.  Storrs  moved  his  amend 
ment,  providing  that  Mr.  Taylor's  amendment  should  be  of 
fered  for  the  free  acceptance  or  rejection  of  Missouri ;  but  it 
was  rejected.  Mr.  Taylor's  amendment  was  then  agreed  to 
by  eight  majority  ;  the  bill  was  ordered  to  a  third  reading,  and 
on  the  1st  of  March  it  was  passed  by  a  vote  of  ninety-one  to 
eighty-two. 

On  the  same  day  the  House  agreed  to  a  conference,  asked 
for  by  the  Senate,  on  the  bill  for  the  admission  of  the  State  of 
Maine.  The  Senate  appointed  on  the  Committee  of  Conference 
Thomas  of  Illinois,  Pinkney  of  Maryland,  and  Barbour  of 
Virginia.  The  House  added  Holmes  and  Parker  of  Massachu 
setts,  Taylor  of  New  York,  Lowndes  of  South  Carolina,  and 
Kinsey  of  New  Jersey. 

The  next  day  the  Missouri  bill  was  taken  up  in  the  Senate, 
and,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Barbour,  so  much  of  the  bill  as  prohib 
ited  slavery  was  stricken  out  by  twenty-seven  to  fifteen.  Mr. 
Thomas  moved  to  amend  the  bill  by  adding  a  section  exclud 
ing  slavery  north  of  36°  30'.  Mr.  Trimble  moved  to  amend 
that  amendment  by  prohibiting  slavery  in  all  territory  ceded 
by  France,  excepting  Louisiana,  Missouri,  and  Arkansas.  His 
motion,  however,  received  only  twelve  votes,  and  the  amend 
ment  of  Mr.  Thomas  was  adopted. 

On  the  same  day  Mr.  Holmes,  from  the  committee  of  con- 


148       RISE   AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

ference,  reported  to  the  House  that  the  Senate  secede  from  its 
amendment  to  the  bill  for  the  admission  of  Maine  ;  and  that 
the  House  strike  out  from  the  bill  authorizing  the  people  of 
Missouri  to  form  a  constitution  the  prohibition  of  slavery,  and 
insert  the  inhibition  of  slavery  in  all  the  territories  ceded  by 
France  north  of  the  parallel  of  36°  30'.  The  report  was  laid 
upon  the  table,  and  the  House  proceeded  to  the  consideration 
of  the  Senate's  amendments  to  the  Missouri  bill.  The  ques 
tion  was  so  divided  as  to  be  first  taken  on  striking  out  the  pro 
hibition  of  slavery  in  that  State.  Mr.  Lowndes  spoke  briefly 
in  support  of  the  compromise  recommended  by  the  committee 
of  conference.  He  declared  that  its  adoption  would  restore 
tranquillity  to  the  country,  —  a  result  demanded  by  every  con 
sideration  of  discretion,  of  moderation,  of  wisdom,  and  of  vir 
tue.  Mr.  Holmes  of  Massachusetts  spoke  for  the  compromise, 
and  Mr.  Adams  of  the  same  State  against  it.  Kinsey  of  New 
Jersey,  Stevens  of  Connecticut,  and  Mercer  of  Virginia  ear 
nestly  advocated  the  compromise.  On  the  question  of  striking 
out  the  restriction  the  vote  stood  yeas  ninety,  nays  eighty- 
seven  ;  not  a  single  member  from  the  slave  States  voting  for 
prohibition,  and  fourteen  members  from  the  free  States  voting 
against  it.  Though  the  legislatures  of  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
and  Pennsylvania  had  adopted  resolutions  in  favor  of  such  pro 
hibition,  seven  members  from  those  States  recorded  their  votes 
against  the  sentiments  embodied  in  them.  New  England,  too, 
furnished  seven  representatives  who  thus  proved  themselves 
false  to  the  claims  of  humanity,  the  rights  of  man,  and  the 
permanent  interests  of  the  country.  The  motion  to  concur 
with  the  Senate  in  inserting  in  the  bill  the  clause  inhibiting 
slavery  in  the  territory  acquired  from  France  north  of  36°  30' 
was  then  agreed  to  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-four 
to  forty-two. 

Throughout  the  long  struggle  the  President  and  his  cabi 
net  had  manifested  the  deepest  interest.  On  the  passage  of 
the  bill  he  submitted  to  them  the  question  :  "  Has  Congress 
the  constitutional  power  to  prohibit  slavery  in  a  Territory  ?  " 
To  this  question  an  affirmative  answer  was  given,  though  all 
but  Mr.  Adams  were  of  the  opinion  that  the  word  "  forever  " 


THE   MISSOUEI  STRUGGLE.  —  THE   COMPROMISES.  149 

in  the  prohibitory  clause  did  not  interfere  with  the  right  of  any 
State  that  might  be  organized  from  that  territory  to  prohibit 
or  establish  slavery.  Having  received  from  all  the  members 
of  his  cabinet  the  opinion  that  the  proviso  forever  prohibiting 
slavery  north  of  the  parallel  of  36°  30'  was  constitutional, 
President  Monroe  affixed  his  signature  to  the  bill. 

The  victory  of  the  Slave  Power  was  now  complete ;  slavery 
was  fastened  upon  the  Territory  of  Arkansas  and  the  new  State 
of  Missouri ;  and  the  dark  cloud,  surcharged  with  its  number 
less  wrongs  and  woes,  rolled  heavily  across  the  Mississippi. 
Under  the  skilful  lead  of  her  distinguished  sons  and  cham 
pions,  in  both  the  legislative  and  executive  departments  of  gov 
ernment,  the  slaveholding  South  imposed  upon  the  country, 
thus  basely  betrayed  and  subdued,  another  compromise," — a 
compromise,  however,  to  be  kept  only  so  long  as  the  interests 
of  the  vile  and  false  system  which  exacted  it  could  be  promoted 
by  it ;  then  to  be  ruthlessly  broken  and  treated  as  a  thing  of 
naught. 

This  Missouri  struggle,  which  so  aroused  and  called  into  ac 
tion  the  vital  forces  of  freedom  and  slavery,  demonstrated  the 
startling  fact  that  the  race  of  Southern  statesmen  who  believed 
slavery  to  be  a  temporary  evil,  to  be  abolished  at  some  future 
time  and  in  some  yet  unforeseen  way,  had  passed  away.  It 
revealed  a  new  class,  who  had  learned  either  to  believe  that  it 
was  "  a  positive  good,"  or  so  to  "  conquer  their  prejudices  "  as  to 
subordinate  their  convictions  to  the  assumed  necessities  of  the 
system  and  the  intolerant  demands  of  that  rapidly  increasing 
power.  President  Monroe,  who  believed  that  slavery  "  preyed 
on  the  vitals  "  of  the  State  which  tolerated  it,  opposed  the  Mis 
souri  restriction.  Several  of  his  Cabinet  actively  labored  to  de 
feat  it.  Even  John  Quincy  Adams,  Secretary  of  State,  favored 
the  Missouri  Compromise,  "  believing  it  to  be,"  he  said,  "  all 
that  could  be  effected  under  the  present  Constitution,  and  from 
extreme  unwillingness  to  put  the  Union  in  hazard."  He  stated 
that  "  the  impression  produced  on  his  mind  by  the  progress  of 
the  discussion  was,  that  the  bargain  between  freedom  and 
slavery  contained  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was 
morally  and  politically  inconsistent  with  the  principles  on 


150        RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

which  alone  our  Revolution  could  be  justified  ;  cruel  and  op 
pressive  by  riveting  the  chains  of  slavery,  by  pledging  the  faith 
of  freedom  to  maintain  and  perpetuate  the  tyranny  of  the  mas 
ter  ;  and  grossly  unequal  and  impolitic  by  admitting  that  slaves 
are  at  once  enemies  to  be  kept  in  subjection,  property  to  be 
secured  and  returned  to  its  owners,  and  persons  not  to  be  rep 
resented  themselves,  but  for  whom  their  masters  are  privileged 
with  nearly  a  double  share  of  representation.  The  conse 
quence  has  been  that  this  slave  representation  has  governed 
the  Union.  Benjamin's  portion  above  his  brethren  has  ravened 
as  a  wolf.  In  the  morning  he  has  devoured  the  prey,  and  in 
the  evening  has  divided  the  spoil." 

Mr.  Jefferson,  who  was  the  father  of  the  party  then  in  power, 
wielding  a  potential  influence  in  its  councils,  though  he  had 
once  prepared  a  plan  for  the  prohibition  of  slavery  which  was 
designed  to  secure  to  freedom  all  the  territory  from  the  Lakes 
to  the  Gulf,  became  alarmed  and  shrunk  appalled  before  the 
fury  of  the  strife,  declaring  that  it  fell  upon  his  ear  "  like  the 
fire-bell  at  midnight."  He,  too,  yielded  to  the  pressure,  and 
condemned  the  men  who  were  battling  for  the  very  principles 
he  had  himself  so  grandly  enunciated  and  ably  defended.  Mr. 
Madison,  also,  the  calm  and  judicious  statesman  who  would 
not  allow  the  word  "  slave "  to  desecrate  the  Constitution, 
trembled  for  the  fate  of  the  Union,  menaced  by  the  madness 
of  the  slave-masters,  and  threw  the  weight  of  his  great  name 
in  favor  of  a  policy  which  would  subject  Missouri  to  the  same 
influences  which  had  so  sadly  blighted  and  despoiled  his  once 
proud  commonwealth. 

Never  before  had  the  antislavery  sentiment  of  the  North 
been  so  quickened  and  aroused.  Popular  meetings  were 
holden,  in  which  Federalists  and  Democrats  enthusiastically 
and  cordially  united.  Public  addresses  were  made,  and  peti 
tions  and  memorials  were  sent  to  Congress.  The  citizens  of 
Boston  assembled  and  voted  to  memorialize  Congress  to 
restrain  the  increase  of  slavery  in  new  States  to  be  admitted 
into  the  Union.  This  memorial,  drawn  up  by  Daniel  Webster, 
set  forth  that "  the  happiness  of  unborn  millions  was  at  issue  " ; 
that  the  admission  of  slavery  into  a  new  country  encouraged 


THE  MISSOURI   STRUGGLE.  —  THE   COMPROMISES.  151 

"  rapacity,  fraud,  and  violence,"  tarnished  "  the  proud  fame 
of  the  country,"  and  rendered  questionable  all  "  professions 
of  regard  for  the  rights  of  humanity  or  the  liberties  of  man 
kind."  This  calm  and  dignified  paper,  in  which  the  issues 
were  put  with  great  discrimination  and  emphasis,  closed  with 
this  manly  and  earnest  appeal :  "  As  inhabitants  of  a  free 
country,  as  citizens  of  a  great  and  rising  republic,  as  mem 
bers  of  a  Christian  community,  as  living  in  a  liberal  and  en 
lightened  age,  and  as  feeling  ourselves  called  upon  by  the 
dictates  of  religion  and  humanity,  we  have  presumed  to  offer 
our  sentiments  to  Congress  on  this  question  with  a  solici 
tude  for  the  event  far  beyond  what  a  common  occasion  could 
inspire." 

These  sentiments,  so  strongly  and  eloquently  expressed, 
were  entertained  with  singular  unanimity,  not  alone  by  the 
people  of  Massachusetts,  but  by  the  people  of  New  England 
and  of  the  entire  North.  The  legislatures  of  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Ohio,  and  Indiana 
passed  resolutions  affirming  the  power  and  duty  of  Congress 
to  prohibit  slavery  in  the  States  to  be  carved  out  of  Western 
territory.  These  resolutions,  adopted  with  little  opposition, 
were  based  upon  the  indestructible  principles  of  humanity, 
justice,  and  liberty.  The  legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  without 
a  dissenting  vote,  supported  the  humane  and  enlightened  pol 
icy  of  prohibiting  slavery  in  Missouri.  Their  resolutions 
proclaimed  with  emphasis  that  "  they  are  persuaded  that  to 
open  the  fertile  regions  of  the  West  to  a  servile  race  would 
tend  to  increase  their  numbers  beyond  all  past  example,  would 
open  a  new  and  steady  market  for  the  lawless  venders  of 
human  flesh,  and  render  all  schemes  for  obliterating  this  foul 
blot  upon  the  American  character  useless  and  unavailing." 
They  denounced  the  attempt  to  bring  Missouri  into  the  Union 
as  a  slaveholding  State  as  a  measure  "  to  spread  the  crimes 
and  cruelties  of  slavery  from  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  to 
the  shores  of  the  Pacific."  And  they  invoked  the  several 
States,  "  by  the  duty  they  owe  to  the  Deity,  by  the  veneration 
which  they  entertain  for  the  memories  of  the  founders  of  the 
Republic,  and  by  a  tender  regard  for  posterity,  to  protest 


152       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

against  its  adoption,  to  refuse  to  covenant  with  crime,  and  to 
limit  the  range  of  an  evil  that  already  hangs  in  awful  boding 
over  so  large  a  portion  of  the  Union." 

Nor  was  the  South  less  united  and  determined.  Its  lead 
ers  were,  indeed,  more  persistent  and  adroit.  Compact  in 
organization,  united  in  purpose  and  plan,  in  full  possession  of 
the  government,  and,  as  might  be  expected  in  support  of  such 
a  crime  against  nature  and  religion,  not  over-scrupulous,  they 
found  means  to  alarm  and  persuade,  if  not  to  corrupt,  North 
ern  men  to  betray  their  section,  blight  the  hopes  of  their 
people,  and  sacrifice  the  permanent  interests  of  the  whole 
country. 

Mortified  at  their  betrayal,  aggrieved  at  their  defeat,  and 
apprehensive  in  view  of  these  demonstrations  of  slaveholding 
power,  the  more  thoughtful  Northern  men  began  to  compre 
hend  more  clearly  the  radical  incompatibility  between  slave 
and  free  institutions.  Governor  Wolcott  of  Connecticut,  in  his 
address  to  the  legislature  of  that  State,  thus  expressed  the 
growing  conviction  :  "  It  cannot  have  escaped  your  attention 
that  a  diversity  of  habits  and  principles  of  government  exist 
in  this  country  ;  and  I  think  it  is  evident  that  slavery  is  grad 
ually  forming  those  distinctions  which,  according  to  invaria 
ble  laws  of  human  action,  constitute  the  characteristic  differ 
ence  between  aristocratical  and  democratical  institutions." 
These  differences,  wrought  by  slavery,  in  the  ideas,  social  life, 
and  institutions  of  the  North  and  South,  so  distinctly  revealed 
in  the  Missouri  struggle,  continued,  in  their  development,  to 
become  more  and  more  antagonistic  and  divergent,  until,  after 
the  conflicts  of  forty  years,  the  two  systems  grappled  in  the 
bloody  struggle  of  civil  war. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

ADMISSION  OF  MISSOURI.  —  ATTEMPT  TO  INTRODUCE  SLAVERY  INTO 

ILLINOIS. 

Constitution  of  Missouri.  —  Resolution  of  Admission  in  the  Senate.  —  Mr.  Eaton's 
Proviso.  —  Mr.  Wilson's  Proviso.  —  Debate.  —  Passage  of  the  Resolution  of 
Admission.  —  Report  by  Mr.  Lowndes  in  the  House.  —  Remarks  by  Sergeant, 
Storrs,  Lowndes,  Cook.  —  House  Resolution  rejected.  —  Senate  Resolution  re 
ferred  to  a  Committee  of  Thirteen.  —  Report  of  Committee  rejected.  —  Speech 
of  Mr.  Pinckney. —  Mr.  Brown's  Proposition.  — Appointment  of  Joint  Special 
Committee.  —  Mr.  Clay's  Compromise  adopted.  —  Conditions  accepted  by  Mis 
souri.  —  Slaves  in  Illinois.  —  Slave  Codes.  —  Governor  Coles.  —  Defeat  of  the 
Plot  to  make  Illinois  a  Slave  State. 

THIS  action  of  Congress  having  left  Missouri  free  to  estab 
lish,  guard,  and  perpetuate  the  slave  system,  the  convention 
for  framing  the  constitution  not  only  established  slavery,  but 
provided  in  that  instrument  that  it  should  be  the  duty  of  the 
general  assembly,  as  soon  as  might  be,  to  pass  such  laws  as 
were  necessary  to  prevent  free  negroes  or  mulattoes  on  any 
pretext  whatever  from  coming  into  or  settling  in  the  State. 
Elated  by  their  great  triumph  its  framers  proposed  the  viola 
tion,  not  only  of  the  common  principles  of  humanity,  but  of 
the  rights  of  citizenship,  as  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States. 

The  second  session  of  the  XVI.  Congress  convened  on 
the  13th  of  November,  1820.  The  next  day  the  President 
sent  to  the  Senate  a  copy  of  the  constitution  of  Missouri.  It 
was  referred  to  a  select  committee,  of  which  Mr.  Smith  of 
South  Carolina  was  chairman.  On  the  29th  the  committee 
reported  a  resolution  for  the  admission  of  Missouri.  The 
chairman  stated  that  the  constitution  was  republican  in  form, 
and  he  trusted  it  would  at  once  be  acted  upon,  and  the  mem 
bers  of  the  new  State  promptly  admitted  to  the  national  coun- 
20 


154       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

cils.  Mr.  Eaton  of  Tennessee  moved  that  its  consideration 
be  postponed,  in  order  that  he  might  examine  it,  to  see  if  it 
were  conformable  in  all  respects  with  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  He  suggested  that  "  there  were  controverted 
points  in  it."  Richard  M.  Johnson  of  Kentucky  did  not 
object  to  the  postponement.  "  The  question,"  he  said,  "swal 
lows  up,  in  fact,  every  other  ;  and,  until  it  is  settled,  we  can 
not  go  on  with  the  ordinary  business  of  the  session."  It  was 
remarked  by  Mr.  Barbour  of  Virginia  that  he  had  supposed 
the  question  had  been  decided  at  the  last  session.  So  fully 
persuaded  was  he  of  the  fact  that  he  had  supposed  that 
"  accursed  would  be  the  hand  that  would  again  open  this 
fountain  of  bitter  waters."  The  motion  prevailed,  and  the 
question  came  up  again  on  the  6th  of  December.  Although 
Mr.  Barbour  suggested  that  the  mind  of  every  senator  was 
fully  made  up,  and  the  question  could  be  decided  without 
debate,  "  the  controverted  points  "  in  the  constitution  were  at 
once  revealed. 

Mr.  Eaton  moved  to  add  a  proviso  that  "  nothing  herein 
contained  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  give  the  assent  of  Con 
gress  to  any  provision  of  the  constitution  of  Missouri,  if  any 
such  there  be,  that  contravenes  the  clause  in  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States  which  declares  that '  the  citizens  of 
each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  and  immuni 
ties  of  citizens  of  the  several  States.' ':  A  proviso  was  then 
moved  by  Mr.  Wilson  of  New  Jersey,  referring  specifically  to 
the  objectionable  clause  in  the  constitution  of  Missouri ;  but 
it  received  the  votes  of  only  nine  members.  Mr.  Eaton's  pro 
viso  was  then  lost. 

Mr.  Burrill  of  Rhode  Island,  a  dissenting  member  of  the 
committee,  then  addressed  the  Senate.  He  was  a  ripe  scholar 
and  an  eminent  lawyer,  by  whose  early  death  his  State  and  the 
nation  sustained  a  serious  loss.  Speaking  with  clearness  and 
precision,  he  maintained  that  the  act  admitting  Missouri  was 
in  the  nature  of  a  contract  between  the  United  States  and  the 
people  of  Missouri ;  and  it  was  competent  for  Congress,  and  it 
was  its  duty,  to  see  if  that  contract  had  been  faithfully  ful 
filled.  Referring  to  the  obnoxious  clause,  he  said  he  con- 


ADMISSION   OF   MISSOURI.  155 

ceived  it  to  be  "  entirely  repugnant  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  In  Massachusetts  there  is  no  distinction  of 
color,  and  all  possess  precisely  the  same  rights.  Can  it  be 
possible  for  Missouri,  consistently  with  the  Constitution,  to  ex 
clude  any  of  those  citizens  of  Massachusetts  from  the  State  ? 
The  States  of  this  Union  are  not  independent  nations.  When 
they  framed  the  Constitution  they  used  the  language  '  We,  the 
people.'  Sanction  this  improper  clause  now,  and  you  sanction 
it  for  all  time  to  come  ;  and,  however  we  may  desire  hereafter 
to  avoid  it,  it  will  be  irrevocably  fixed." 

Mr.  Smith,  chairman  of  the  committee,  followed  in  an  elab 
orate  speech  of  great  length.  "  The  history  of  the  ancient 
world,"  he  said,  "  affords  no  precedent.  As  no  example  is 
found  in  the  history  of  any  other  nation,  and  this  being  the 
first  time  when  this  question  has  occurred  in  our  own  govern 
ment,  whether  free  negroes  and  mulattoes  are  citizens,  we  must 
ascertain  their  status  from  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
and  the  State  constitutions.  They  furnish  a  mass  of  evidence, 
which  none  but  a  sceptic  can  doubt,  that  they  have  been  con 
sidered  a  part  of  the  body  politic  neither  by  the  general  govern 
ment  nor  the  State  governments."  Of  the  self-evident  truths 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  he  significantly  asked  : 
"  If  this  were  a  declaration  of  independence  for  the  blacks  as 
well  as  the  whites,  why  did  you  not  all  emancipate  your  slaves 
at  once  and  let  them  join  you  in  the  war  ?  "  Referring  to  the 
naturalization  laws,  he  maintained  that  they  were  for  white 
persons  only.  He  showed  that  in  several  of  the  free  States 
white  inhabitants  only  were  allowed  political  privileges.  By 
a  full  and  mortifying  recital  of  national  as  well  as  State  legis 
lation,  he  was  able  to  show  how  strangely  and  cruelly  the  na 
tion  had  discriminated  for  the  whites  and  against  the  bla*cks. 
He  closed  by  presenting  a  tabular  statement,  procured  from 
the  custom-house  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  of  the  names 
of  all  the  vessels,  and  their  owners,  which  had  entered  that 
port  during  the  four  years  ending  in  1807.  From  that  state 
ment  it  appeared  that  citizens  of  Rhode  Island  had  imported 
eight  thousand  slaves, — one  fifth  of  all  which  had  been  brought 
into  the  country  ;  "  thus  showing,"  he  said,  "  that  those  people 


156       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

who  most  deprecate  the  evils  of  slavery  and  the  traffic  in  hu 
man  flesh  can  sell  human  flesh  with  an  easy  conscience  when 
a  profitable  market  can  be  found." 

John  Holmes  of  Maine,  who  had,  as  representative  from 
Massachusetts,  at  the  preceding  session,  labored  so  efficiently 
to  defeat  prohibition  in  Missouri  and  to  compromise  the  rights 
of  freemen,  now  made  a  specious  argument,  in  which  he  main 
tained  that  Missouri  had  not  impaired  her  claim  for  admission 
by  prohibiting  the  entrance  of  free  negroes  and  mulattoes. 
Asserting  that  States  might  enact  laws  against  paupers  and 
vagabonds,  he  alleged  that  it  was  safe  to  assume  that  manu 
mitted  slaves  would  become  such.  He  also  maintained  that 
free  negroes  and  mulattoes  were  not  citizens  within  the  mean 
ing  and  intent  of  the  Constitution,  and  contended  that  no  one 
could  be  a  citizen  unless  he  had  an  agency  in  the  formation 
and  administration  of  the  laws  ;  that  free  negroes  and  mulat 
toes  had  not  that  agency,  and  therefore  were  not  citizens ; 
and  hence  their  exclusion  by  Missouri  was  not  an  infraction 
of  the  Constitution. 

Mr.  Otis  of  Massachusetts  replied  in  a  speech  of  great  ele 
gance  and  force.  To  Mr.  Holmes' s  definition  of  citizenship 
and  argument  thereon  he  replied  that  if  an  unjust  State  gov 
ernment  might  "  create  odious  and  other  distinctions  between 
its  privileged  and  other  classes,"  that  certainly  could  not 
divest  them  of  "  the  right  of  protection  in  life,  liberty,  and 
property,  of  residence,  and  inheritable  blood."  The  resolution, 
after  further  debate,  was  passed  by  eight  majority. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  Mr.  Scott,  early  in  the 
session,  presented  the  constitution  of  Missouri,  which  was  re 
ferred  to  a  select  committee,  of  which  Mr.  Lowndes  of  South 
Carolina  was  chairman.  A  report  was  promptly  made  in  favor 
of  its  admission  as  a  State.  It  was  the  subject  of  continuous 
debate  for  several  days.  Mr.  Sergeant  of  Pennsylvania  made 
a  very  able  speech  in  opposition  to  its  adoption.  Referring  to 
the  clause  of  the  Constitution  giving  to  the  citizens  of  one 
State  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  other  States, 
he  declared  his  inability  to  see  how  that  could  be  constitutional 
which  forbade  a  citizen  of  Massachusetts  "  to  set  his  foot  in 


ADMISSION   OF   MISSOURI.  157 

the  State  of  Missouri."  The  simple  privilege  of  locomotion 
is  all  that  is  asked  for  now  ;  and  surely  that  must  be  one  of  the 
privileges  and  immunities  of  citizenship.  This  learned  lawyer 
and  able  and  upright  statesman  said  unequivocally  that  this 
clause  of  the  constitution  of  Missouri  respecting  free  people  of 
color  was  "  a  plain  and  palpable  infraction  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  "  ;  that  "  the  plain  course,  then,  was  not 
to  receive  the  constitution"  ;  and  that  it  was  "  the  duty  of  this 
House  to  reject  it." 

Mr.  Storrs  of  New  York,  who  had  steadily  voted,  at  the  pre 
vious  session,  against  the  restriction  of  slavery  in  Missouri, 
avowed  it  to  be  his  intention  to  vote  against  the  admission  of 
that  State,  because  her  constitution  was  repugnant  to  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States.  He  made  a  learned  and  able 
speech,  in  which  he  maintained  that  the  clause  in  the  Consti 
tution  which  secured  to  the  citizens  of  each  State  the  privileges 
and  immunities  of  the  citizens  of  the  several  States  is  "  laid 
deep  in  the  structure  of  the  government,"  "  is  capable  of  no 
construction  which  does  not  plainly  denote  the  universality  of 
its  operation  and  its  uniform  application  to  individual  right 
throughout  every  portion  of  the  nation."  The  same  senti 
ments  were  maintained  by  Mr.  Hemphill  of  Pennsylvania 
and  Mr.  Mallory  of  Vermont. 

These  views  were  combated  by  Lowndes,  by  Philip  P.  Bar- 
bour  and  Archer  of  Virginia,  and  by  McLane  of  Delaware,  in 
elaborate  but  specious  arguments.  Mr.  Barbour  considered 
free  persons  of  color  as  a  nondescript  class.  In  some  States 
they  have  some  civil  rights,  in  others  none ;  in  some  States 
they  have  some  political  rights,  in  others  none.  Mr.  Lowndes 
said :  "  No  federal  privileges  had  been  conferred  upon  that 
degraded  caste  of  our  population,  rejected  as  they  were  in  every 
State  from  social  and  political  privileges,  either  by  the  protec 
tion  of  law  or  the  feelings  of  society." 

Mr.  Cook  of  Illinois  made  the  point,  that  Congress,  in  con 
sideration  of  military  services,  had  granted  land  bounties  for 
lands  in  Missouri,  some  of  which  had  been  received  by  free 
people  of  color.  They  had  thus  acquired  a  fee  simple  of  the 
soil.  These  rights  even  the  United  States  could  not  take  away 


158       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN   AMERICA. 

or  infringe  ;  and  yet  Missouri,  a  subordinate  power,  proposed 
virtually  to  do  that  very  thing.  This  encroachment  he  pro 
nounced  "  both  unjustifiable  and  unconstitutional." 

The  debate  was  brought  to  a  close  on  the  13th  of  December, 
and  the  resolution  of  admission  was  rejected  by  a  majority 
of  fourteen.  This  result  produced  much  excitement.  Mr. 
Lowndes  immediately  arose  and  said,  with  deep  feeling :  "  I 
do  not  wish  to  be  disrespectful  to  a  majority  of  the  House  ;  but 
I  feel  it  my  duty  to  call  on  them,  having  rejected  the  resolution 
proposed  by  a  committee  of  their  appointment,  to  devise  and 
propose  the  means  necessary  to  protect  the  Territory.",  The 
deep  emotion  exhibited  by  Mr.  Lowndes,  one  of  the  ablest  and 
certainly  one  of  the  most  courteous  and  moderate  of  Southern 
statesmen,  was  fully  shared  by  the  representatives  and  people 
of  the  slaveholding  States,  who,  with  like  feelings,  were  less 
choice  and  courteous  in  their  modes  of  expression. 

In  the  latter  part  of  January  Mr.  Eustis  of  Massachusetts 
proposed  that  Missouri  should  be  admitted  on  condition  that 
she  should  expunge  from  her  constitution  the  clause  discrimi 
nating  against  free  people  of  color.  After  various  motions  the 
proposition  was  rejected  by  a  vote  approaching  unanimity.  Mr. 
Clay,  who  had  been  absent  during  the  first  weeks  of  the  ses 
sion,  then  immediately  arose  and  gave  notice  that  he  should 
move  to  take  up  the  Senate  resolution.  On  the  29th  he  made 
the  promised  motion,  and  supported  it  in  an  earnest  and  pow 
erful  argument,  in  which  he  denied  that  there  was  any  repug 
nance  between  the  clauses  so  often  referred  to  in  the  constitu 
tions  of  the  United  States  and  of  Missouri. 

An  amendment  was  then  offered  by  Mr.  Foote  of  Connecti 
cut,  providing  that  Missouri  should  be  admitted  on  condition 
that  she  should  expunge  the  objectionable  clause.  This  amend 
ment,  after  various  motions  and  modifications,  was  rejected  by 
a  decided  majority.  Other  amendments  were  offered,  and  the 
debate  ranged  over  the  general  subjects  of  the  evils  of  slavery, 
the  rights  of  the  South,  the  balance  of  power,  and  the  obliga 
tions  and  value  of  the  Union.  When  the  several  amendments 
which  had  been  offered  and  debated  were  rejected,  Mr.  Clay 
moved  that  the  Senate  resolution  should  be  referred  to  a  select 


ADMISSION  OF   MISSOURI.  159 

committee  of  thirteen.  This  motion  was  agreed  to  ;  the  com 
mittee  was  appointed,  and  he  was  made  its  chairman. 

The  committee  made  an  early  report.  Referring  to  the 
conflicting  views  entertained  by  members,  this  report  declared 
that  the  committee  thought  it  best  that,  without  either  side 
abandoning  its  opinion,  an  endeavor  should  be  made  to  frame 
an  amendment  to  the  Senate  resolution,  which,  without  com 
promising  either,  should  guard  and  guarantee  the  rights  of 
both.  The  gist  of  the  resolution  was  contained  in  a  funda 
mental  condition  and  two  provisos.  It  declared  that  "  the 
said  State  shall  never  pass  any  law  preventing  any  description 
of  persons  from  going  to  and  settling  in  the  said  State  who 
now  are  or  may  become  citizens  of  any  State  of  the  Union ; 
provided  that  the  State,  by  solemn  public  act,  shall  declare  its 
assent  to  this  fundamental  condition,  and  provided  that  this 
act  shall  not  be  so  construed  as  to  take  from  Missouri  any 
right  or  power  exercised  by  any  of  the  original  States." 
After  exciting  debates  and  various  proposed  amendments,  the 
resolution  was  brought  to  a  vote,  and  rejected  by  eighty  yeas 
to  eighty-three  nays.  This  vote  was  strangely  significant  of 
the  state  of  public  sentiment,  and  the  almost  even  balance  of 
parties  in  that  excited  contest.  Thus  the  report  of  the  select 
committee  was  at  first  rejected  in  the  committee  of  the  whole, 
then  accepted  by  the  House,  then  rejected  on  the  third  read 
ing,  reconsidered,  and  then  finally  defeated  by  six  majority. 

During  this  close  and  desperate  struggle  several  earnest 
and  powerful  speeches  were  made.  Among  them  was  one  by 
Charles  Pinckney.  Referring  to  the  fact  that  he  was  a  mem 
ber  of  the  convention  that  framed  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  he  avowed  that  "  the  article  on  which  so  much 
stress  is  laid,  and  on  the  meaning  of  which  the  whole  of  the 
question  is  made  to  turn,  and  which  is  in  these  words,  <  The 
citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  and 
immunities  in  every  State,'  having  been  made  by  me,  it  is 
supposed  I  must  know  or  perfectly  recollect  what  I  meant  by 
it.  In  answer,  I  say  that  at  the  time  I  drew  the  clause  of  the 
Constitution  I  knew  that  there  did  not  then  exist  such  a  thing 
in  the  Union  as  a  black  or  colored  citizen  ;  nor  could  I  then 


160        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

have  conceived  it  possible  such  a  thing  could  ever  have  existed 
in  it ;  nor  do  I  now  believe  one  does  exist  in  it."  In  defence 
of  this  explicit  statement,  he  proceeded  to  define  what  consti 
tuted  a  citizen  in  his  own  State,  in  which  the  black  man  was 
certainly  not  so  regarded.  He  then  charged  upon  the  North, 
upon  the  New  England  States  even,  that  the  black  man  was 
not  so  regarded  after  the  abolition  of  slavery  there.  Referring 
to  the  cruel  laws  and  practices  of  the  free  States,  he  main 
tained  that,  so  far  from  treating  free  colored  persons  as  citi 
zens,  the  people  of  those  States  deemed  any  admixture  of 
blood  or  any  connection  with  them  to  be  a  disgrace. 

This  second  defeat  of  the  proposition  for  the  admission  of 
Missouri  deepened  and  intensified  the  sectional  feeling  in 
Congress  and  in  the  country.  Mr.  Brown  of  Kentucky  sought 
by  resolution  to  repeal  the  slavery  restriction  embodied  in  the 
Missouri  Compromise  of  the  preceding  session.  He  made  an 
elaborate  speech  in  support  of  his  proposition  ;  but  it  was 
defeated  by  a  decisive  vote. 

On  the  22d  of  February  Mr.  Clay  made  another  effort  to 
secure  the  admission  of  Missouri  by  moving  for  the  appoint 
ment  of  a  joint  special  committee  of  the  two  Houses  to  con 
sider  the  subject  and  report  what  action  can  be  taken  or 
agreed  upon  concerning  it.  After  an  hour's  debate  the  mo 
tion  was  agreed  to,  and  a  committee  of  twenty-three  on  the 
part  of  the  House  was  chosen  by  ballot.  The  Senate  con 
curred  in  the  vote  by  a  large  majority,  and  chose  seven  men, 
at  the  head  of  whom  was  John  Holmes  of  Maine.  The  joint 
committee  reported  a  resolution,  which  its  chairman,  Mr. 
Clay,  considered  as  being  the  same  in  effect  as  that  reported 
by  the  committee  of  thirteen.  It  was  very  briefly  considered, 
the  previous  question  was  moved,  and  the  bill  passed  by  a 
majority  of  six.  The  resolution  was  sent  to  the  Senate,  and 
passed  by  the  decided  vote  of  twenty-eight  to  fourteen.  Thus 
the  determined  purpose,  persistency,  and  tact  of  the  Slave 
Power,  sustained  by  the  active  influences  of  the  President 
and  his  cabinet,  again  triumphed. 

The  legislature  of  Missouri  promptly  complied  with  the 
conditions  of  the  compromise,  which  required  "  that  the 


ATTEMPT    TO   INTRODUCE    SLAVERY   INTO   ILLINOIS.  161 

fourth  clause  of.  the  twenty-sixth  section  of  the  third  article  of 
the  constitution  submitted  on  the  part  of  said  State  to  Con 
gress  shall  never  be  construed  to  authorize  the  passage  of  any 
law,  and  that  no  law  shall  be  passed  in  conformity  thereto,  by 
which  any  citizen  of  either  of  the  States  in  this  Union  shall 
be  excluded  from  the  enjoyment  of  any  of  the  privileges  and 
immunities  to  which  such  citizen  is  entitled  under  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States." 

Thus  was  closed  the  Missouri  controversy,  which  had  lasted 
more  than  two  years,  and  which  had  stirred  the  country  to  its 
profoundest  depths.  The  debates  were  earnest,  able,  and 
often  eloquent.  Seldom  has  any  question  drawn  out  a  debate 
in  Congress  so  elaborate  and  exhaustive.  Not  only  were  the 
conflicting  principles  of  freedom  and  slavery  at  issue,  and  the 
interests  of  the  two  sections  at  stake  ;  but  the  passions,  preju 
dices,  and  pride  of  both  sides  were  thoroughly  aroused.  The 
personal  and  pecuniary  interests  of  the  Southern  members 
and  those  they  represented  were  immediately  and  seriously 
involved.  The  South  was  a  unit.  Her  representatives  were 
therefore  impelled  to  put  forth  the  most  strenuous  efforts.  In 
that  great  struggle  it  was  admitted  that  slavery,  rather  than 
freedom,  commanded  the  services  not  only  of  the  most  earnest 
but  of  the  most  eloquent  debaters  of  both  Houses,  and  of 
statesmen  of  the  largest  experience  and  most  commanding 
influence  in  the  country. 

During  this  Missouri  struggle  a  conspiracy  was  formed  to 
make  Illinois  a  slave  State.  Both  of  her  Senators  were 
natives  of  the  South,  and  they  had  pertinaciously  opposed 
the  prohibition  of  slavery  in  Missouri,  while  her  Representa 
tive  was  its  earnest  and  eloquent  advocate.  A  majority  of  its 
settlers  at  that  time  unquestionably  approved  of  the  action  of 
their  Senators. 

Illinois  had  been  largely  settled  by  emigrants  from  the 
South,  who  carried  with  them  their  love  of  slavery  and  their 
unreasoning  prejudices  against  free  negroes.  In  1807  the 
Territorial  legislature  of  Indiana  made  it  lawful  for  any  owner 
or  possessor  of  any  negroes  or  mulattoes  above  fifteen  years 
21 


162       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

of  age  to  bring  them  into  that  Territory,  which  then  included 
the  present  State  of  Illinois.  Within  thirty  days  he  was 
required  to  take  such  negro  before  the  clerk  of  the  county 
court  and  enter  into  an  agreement  with  the  latter  by  which 
he  was  to  serve  him  a  given  number  of  years.  If  the  negro 
refused  to  enter  into  such  an  agreement,  he  was  to  be  taken 
back  within  sixty  days  to  the  place  from  which  he  came. 
This  act  provided,  further,  that  any  owner  or  possessor  of  ne 
groes  under  fifteen  years  of  age  was  authorized  to  hold  the 
males  till  they  were  thirty-five,  and  the  females  until  they 
were  thirty-two  years  of  age,  "  to  service  and  labor."  It  also 
provided  that  the  children  born  of  these  registered  servants 
should  be  held  to  like  service,  the  males  till  they  were  thirty 
years  and  the  females  till  they  were  twenty-eight  years  of  age. 
When  Illinois  became  a  Territory  it  reaffirmed  these  laws. 
By  their  inhuman  provisions  Southern  masters  could  take  their 
slaves  into  this  Territory,  and  compel  them  to  enter  into  con 
tracts  to  serve  them  a  number  of  years,  exceeding  their  nat 
ural  lives,  or  be  sent  back  to  perpetual  servitude.  Their 
children  under  fifteen  years  of  age  and  those  born  after  enter 
ing  the  Territory  were  also  doomed  to  the  same  service  for 
a  period  of  years.  This  was  practically  involuntary  servitude, 
and  in  direct  violation  of  the  ordinance  of  1787.  Such  was 
the  public  sentiment,  and  so  great  were  the  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  asserting  their  rights,  that  many  negroes  were  held  in 
a  bondage  as  severe  as  any  that  prevailed  in  the  Southern 
States. 

By  the  constitution  of  Illinois,  adopted  in  1818,  suffrage  was 
limited  to  free  white  persons  ;  the  introduction  of  slavery  was 
forbidden,  and  it  was  provided  that  no  contracts  should  be 
made  for  a  longer  period  than  one  year.  It  provided,  how 
ever,  that  all  preceding  contracts  should  be  valid ;  but  it  re 
quired  that  the  children  of  such  registered  servants  should 
become  free  at  the  lawful  age.  On  the  admission  of  the  State 
the  legislature  had  hastened  to  enact  a  code  of  black  laws, 
most  of  which  were  taken  from  the  slave  codes  of  Virginia  and 
Kentucky,  from  which  States  most  of  the  settlers  had  emigrated. 
Fines  were  imposed  upon  persons  bringing  negroes  into  the 


ATTEMPT   TO  INTRODUCE   SLAVERY   INTO  ILLINOIS.          163 

State ;  and  negroes  found  without  certificates  of  freedom  were 
doomed  to  be  sold  into  slavery  for  one  year.  Free  negroes 
were  compelled  to  give  sureties,  and  when  convicted  of  any 
petty  offences,  they  were  to  be  punished  with  stripes.  These 
degrading  laws  were  often  cruelly  enforced,  and  for  more  than 
forty  years  they  continued  to  disgrace  the  statute-book  of  that 
rising  State. 

After  the  admission  of  Missouri,  emigrants  from  Virginia 
and  Kentucky,  with  their  long  trains  of  teams  and  negroes, 
passed  through  nortions  of  the  State  on  their  way  to  Missouri. 
Many  of  them  were  men  of  wealth  and  education,  and  as  they 
passed  along  with  their  droves  of  negroes,  they  did  not  fail  to 
remind  the  settlers  and  land  speculators  that  they  had  been 
excluded  from  purchasing  their  lands  and  settling  among  them 
by  the  prohibition  of  slavery.  Of  course  these  land-owners 
envied  the  good  fortune  of  Missouri.  Feeling  that  the  pros 
pects  of  Illinois  had  been  blasted  by  freedom,  they  nursed  the 
desire  to  make  it  a  slave  State.  This  purpose  was  carried  into 
the  election  of  1822.  The  legislature  was  carried  by  the  friends 
of  slavery,  though,  on  account  of  dividing  their  votes  between 
two  candidates,  they  failed  to  carry  either  of  their  candidates 
for  governor,  and  Edward  Coles  was  elected  to  the  guberna 
torial  chair  by  the  friends  of  freedom.  Mr.  Coles  was  a  native 
of  Virginia,  a  gentleman  of  culture  and  character,  had  eman 
cipated  his  slaves,  moved  with  them  to  Illinois  in  1818,  and 
settled  them  upon  lands  which  he  had  given  them.  He  had 
been  private  secretary  of  Mr.  Madison,  was  the  personal  friend 
of  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  an  uncompromising  emancipationist. 

There  were  in  Illinois  a  few  French  settlers  holding  slaves, 
to  whom,  by  common  consent,  neither  the  constitution  of  the 
State  nor  the  principle  of  the  ordinance  of  1787  had  been 
applied.  When  the  legislature  met,  Governor  Coles  recom 
mended  the  emancipation  of  these  slaves.  This  recommen 
dation  incensed  the  advocates  of  slavery,  and  they  sought  to 
amend  the  constitution.  To  call  a  convention  for  that  purpose 
required  a  two-thirds  vote  of  both  branches  of  the  legislature, 
ratified  by  a  vote  of  the  people.  They  had  the  requisite  vote 
in  the  Senate,  but  lacked  one  vote  in  the  House.  They  had  two 
purposes,  —  to  carry  the  convention,  and  to  elect  a  proslavery 


164       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

candidate  for  the  United  States  Senate.  There  were  two  con 
testants  for  one  of  the  counties,  —  one  of  them  would  vote  for 
their  candidate  for  the  Senate,  but  would  not  vote  for  the  con 
vention  ;  the  other  would  vote  for  the  convention,  but  not  for  the 
candidate.  They  admitted  the  contesting  member  that  was 
willing  to  vote  for  their  candidate  for  the  Senate,  and  after 
using  his  vote  for  that  purpose  expelled  him  from  the  House 
and  admitted  the  other.  By  this  audacious  trick  and  reckless 
profligacy  of  principle  the  advocates  of  slavery,  true  to  its  in 
stincts  of  fraud  and  violence,  carried  their  point,  and  the  call  for 
the  convention  was  submitted  to  the  people.  Having  accom 
plished  this  purpose,  with  low-bred  and  indecent  effrontery 
they  formed  a  disorderly  procession,  under  the  lead  of  the  lieu 
tenant-governor,  several  judges  and  a  majority  of  the  legisla 
ture,  of  the  rowdy  elements  of  the  capital,  and  "  with  blowing  of 
horns  and  beating  of  drums  and  tin  pans,"  they  marched  to  the 
residence  of  the  governor  and  to  those  of  the  other  members  in 
sympathy  with  him,  to  insult,  by  their  riotous  demonstrations, 
those  opposed  to  making  Illinois  a  slave  State.  But  Governor 
Coles  and  his  friends  were  not  to  be  intimidated.  They  were 
rather  strengthened  than  shaken  in  their  purpose  to  exclude 
from  Illinois  a  system  that  inspired  such  displays  of  its  fero 
cious  and  brutalizing  influence  upon  every  one  enlisted  in  its 
advocacy  and  support.  They  appealed  to  the  people  not  to 
ratify  the  action  of  the  legislature.  Papers  were  established, 
and  Governor  Coles,  David  Blackwell,  Thomas  Lippincott, 
George  Churchill,  Morris  Birkbeck,  Judge  Lockwood,  and 
other  leading  men  made  public  addresses  and  prepared  arti 
cles  for  the  press  and  pamphlets  for  circulation  against  the 
suicidal  policy  of  giving  that  great  commonwealth  to  slavery. 
The  Methodist  and  Baptist  clergy,  many  of  whom  had  been 
Southern  men  who  had  seen  and  experienced  the  evils  of  the 
system,  labored  zealously  and  effectively  for  the  same  good 
purpose.  After  an  excited  and  bitter  contest,  of  more  than 
fifteen  months,  the  proposed  convention  was  voted  down  by  a 
majority  of  more  than  two  thousand.  The  victory  was  com 
plete  and  final.  The  friends  of  liberty  throughout  the  country, 
dejected  by  the  result  of  the  Missouri  struggle,  found  some  com 
pensation  in  the  thought  that  Illinois  had  been  saved  to  freedom. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

EAELY  ANTISLAVERY  MOVEMENTS.  —  BENJAMIN  LUNDY. — WILLIAM 
LLOYD   GARRISON. 

Aggressive  and  Dominating  Spirit  of  Slavery.  —  Elias  Hicks.  —  Antislavery  in 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  —  Benjamin  Lundy.  —  He  organizes  an  Antislavery 
Society  in  Ohio.  —  "Genius  of  Emancipation."  —  Removed  to  Tennessee. — 
Established  Abolition  Societies  in  North  Carolina.  —  Meeting  of  the  American 
Abolition  Convention.  —  Political  Action  recommended.  —  Establishes  his 
Paper  in  Baltimore.  —  Visits  the  Eastern  States.  —  Joined  by  Mr.  Garrison.  — 
Imprisonment  of  Mr.  Garrison,  — Paper  removed  to  Washington.  —  Establishes 
the  "  National  Inquirer."  — Removal  to  the  West.  — Death.  — Character.  — 
Mr.  Garrison.  —  Joins  Mr.  Lundy.  —  Adopts  the  Doctrine  of  Immediate 
Emancipation.  —  Denunciation  of  the  Slave-trade.  — Imprisoned  in  Baltimore. 
—  Release  through  Intervention  of  Arthur  Tappan.  —  Denounces  the  Coloniza 
tion  Society.  —  Establishes  "  The  Liberator."  —  Public  Sentiment.  —  Rewards 
offered  for  his  Arrest.  —  His  Fearlessness,  Inflexibility,  and  Persistency. 

IN  the  Missouri  struggle  freedom  and  slavery  grappled  for 
the  mastery.  Freedom  lost,  and  slavery  won.  Freedom  be 
came  timid,  hesitating,  yielding  ;  slavery  became  bolder,  more 
aggressive,  and  more  dominating.  Freedom  retreated  from 
one  lost  position  to  another ;  slavery  advanced  from  conquest 
to  conquest.  Several  years  of  unresisted  despotism  of  the 
Slave  Power  followed  this  consummation  of  the  Missouri  com 
promise.  The  dark  spirit  of  slavery  swayed  the  policy  of  the 
republic.  Southern  legislatures  repealed  the  more  humane 
acts  of  their  slave  codes,  revived  the  more  severe  laws  of  colo 
nial  legislation,  and  enacted  statutes  still  more  inhuman. 
Northern  States,  too,  were  guilty  of  enacting  similar  statutory 
provisions  in  the  interest  of  oppression.  The  conscience  of 
the  people  was  lulled  into  quiet  by  the  new  scheme  of  African 
colonization.  Institutions  of  learning,  benevolence,  and  relig 
ion,  political  organizations  and  public  men  bent  in  unresist 
ing  submission  before  this  all-conquering  despotism,  whose 


166       EISE   AND   FALL    OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN    AMERICA. 

aggressive  advances  became  more  resistless,  as  its  successive 
victories  became  more  complete.  But  amid  this  general  defec 
tion  and  complete  surrender  there  were  a  few  who  kept  the 
faith  of  the  fathers,  and  firmly  and  bravely  adhered  to  the 
doctrines  of  human  rights.  Even  in  that  dark  night  there 
were  Christian  men  who  not  only  believed,  but  faithfully  enun 
ciated  the  creed  of  human  fraternity,  equality,  and  liberty ; 
though  their  movements  were  individual  and  local,  and  their 
appeals  were  unheeded  by  the  great  body  of  .the  people.  In 
deed,  there  have  always  been  witnesses  for  the  truth  ;  and  it  has 
been  a  sad  aggravation  of  the  national  apostasy  that  it  was 
effected  in  spite  of  the  earnest  protests  of  these  faithful  men. 

Among  these  witnesses  were  the  Quakers,  especially  the  fol 
lowers  of  Elias  Hicks.  As  early  as  the  year  1814  he  published 
a  work  on  African  slavery.  In  it  he  maintained  that  the  slave 
holder  had  no  moral  right  whatever  to  the  man  he  styled  his 
slave,  or  to  the  products  of  his  labor.  He  also  enunciated  the 
incontrovertible  principles  that  the  slaveholder  had  no  other 
than  a  criminal  possession  of  the  bondman  ;  that  he  could 
convey  no  right  to  a  second  person  ;  that  the  purchaser  had 
no  more  right  than  the  original  possessor,  whose  right  was 
founded  on  violence ;  and  that  each  holder  of  a  slave,  no 
matter  how  many  hands  that  slave  may  have  passed  through, 
is  guilty  of  the  crime  of  the  first  perpetrator.  As  with  the 
leader,  so  with  most  of  his  followers,  —  their  opposition  to 
slavery  was  always  earnest  and  unequivocal. 

There  was,  also,  a  large  infusion  of  antislavery  feeling, 
especially  among  the  churches  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee, 
many  of  whose  ministers  proclaimed  with  great  clearness  and 
force  the  distinctive  doctrines  of  modern  abolition.  It  was, 
however,  their  misfortune  and  grief  to  dwell  in  communities 
where  the  proslavery  spirit  was  becoming  increasingly  in 
tolerant  and  controlling  in  its  influence  on  the  public  mind, 
rendering  their  residence  uncomfortable  and  unsafe.  Ac 
cordingly,  such  men  as  Rev.  John  Rankin,  a  native  of  Ten 
nessee,  with  their  flocks,  removed  to  the  free  States  across 
the  Ohio  River,  and  there  retained  and  insisted  on  the  same 
sentiments  for  which  they  were  ostracized  in  their  former 


BENJAMIN   LUNDY.  167 

homes.  In  New  England  the  proportion  of  antislavery  men 
was  much  smaller,  though  there  were  some.  Among  them  was 
William  Goodell,  who  in  1820  published  in  the  Providence 
Gazette  a  series  of  papers  on  the  Missouri  struggle,  in  which 
he  enunciated  very  clearly  the  primary  principles  of  human 
rights.  He  was  for  more  than  forty  years  connected  with  an 
antislavery  press. 

But  far  the  most  devoted,  effective,  and  prominent  anti- 
slavery  worker  of  those  days  was  Benjamin  Lundy.  From 
1815  to  1830  his  labors  were  immense,  involving  great  per 
sonal  hardship  and  sacrifice,  and  placing  him  far  in  advance 
of  all  contemporaneous  or  earlier  Abolitionists.  He  was  a 
native  of  New  Jersey,  and  of  Quaker  origin.  At  the  age  of 
nineteen  he  went  to  Wheeling,  in  Western  Virginia,  where  he 
served  an  apprenticeship  and  worked  at  the  trade  of  saddler. 
He  was  evidently  from  the  outset  an  earnest  and  thoughtful 
man.  While  his  companions  were  prone  to  dissipation,  he 
devoted  his  leisure  hours  to  reading  ;  and  he  was  also  a  regu 
lar  attendant  on  the  meetings  of  his  denomination.  Wheel 
ing  being  a  great  thoroughfare  for  the  slave-trade,  through 
which  often  passed  the  coffles  of  that  nefarious  traffic,  his 
sympathies  were  largely  enlisted  in  behalf  of  its  helpless  and 
hopeless  victims.  "  My  heart,"  he  said,  "  was  deeply  grieved 
at  the  gross  abomination.  I  heard  the  wail  of  the  captive,  I 
felt  his  pang  of  distress,  and  the  iron  entered  my  soul." 
Though  he  did  not  then  and  there  enter  upon  what  soon 
became  his  life  work,  yet  he  unquestionably  received  his  bap^ 
tisin  into  the  spirit  of  the  great  reform  of  which  he  was  an 
honored  pioneer,  while  largely  instrumental  in  persuading 
others  to  enter  upon  it. 

Even  Mr.  Garrison  thus  gratefully  and  gracefully  refers  to 
his  obligations  to  Mr.  Lundy  :  "  Now,  if  I  have  in  any  way, 
however  humble,  done  anything  toward  calling  attention  to 
slavery,  or  bringing  about  the  glorious  prospect  of  a  complete 
jubilee  in  our  country  at  no  distant  day,  I  feel  that  I  owe 
everything  in  this  matter,  instrumentally  and  under  God,  to 

Benjamin  Lundy I  feel  it  due  to  the  memory  of  one 

who  devoted  so  many  years  of  his  life  so  faithfully  to  the 


168        RISE   AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

cause  of  the  oppressed  that  I  should  state  this  reminis 
cence." 

Having  married,  he  settled  in  Ohio,  a  few  miles  west  of 
Wheeling.  He  was  prosperous  in  business,  and  happy  in  his 
domestic  relations  ;  "  having,"  he  said,  "  a  loving  wife  and  two 
beautiful  little  daughters,  that  it  was  a  real  happiness  to  pos 
sess  and  cherish."  But,  notwithstanding  his  success  in  busi 
ness  and  the  attractions  of  his  home,  he  felt  and  yielded  to  the 
higher  claims  of  humanity.  His  heart  was  troubled  at  the  sad 
condition  of  the  slaves,  whose  wrongs  and  sufferings  he  well 
knew.  He  enjoyed,  he  said,  no  peace  of  mind,  and  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  he  must  not  only  feel,  but  act  for  the  suffer 
ing  bondmen.  Calling  a  few  friends  together  at  his  house,  he 
unbosomed  his  feelings.  An  antislavery  organization,  called 
"  The  Union  Humane  Society,"  was  formed ;  which  within  a 
few  months  contained  nearly  five  hundred  members,  residing 
in  several  counties  in  that  section  of  the  State.  This  society 
was  formed  in  1815.  He  soon  issued  an  appeal  to  the  phi 
lanthropists  of  the  United  States,  in  which  he  proposed  that 
societies  should  be  formed  wherever  a  sufficient  number  of 
persons  could  be  found  to  join  them,  with  a  uniform  title 
and  constitution.  It  was  also  suggested  that  these  societies 
should  correspond  with  each  other,  and  co-operate  in  the  gen 
eral  measures  of  their  organization. 

Not  long  afterward  Mr.  Charles  Osborn  commenced  the  pub 
lication  of  a  journal  at  Mt.  Pleasant,  Ohio,  called  "  The  Phi 
lanthropist."  For  it  Mr.  Lundy  furnished  articles,  and  he  was 
soon  invited  to  take  an  interest  in  the  paper  and  superintend 
the  office.  That  he  might  be  able  to  accept  the  invitation,  he 
must  disencumber  himself  of  his  business,  which  he  unsuc 
cessfully  attempted  to  do  by  taking  his  stock  in  trade  to  St. 
Louis.  Reaching  that  city  in  the  midst  of  the  Missouri  strug 
gle,  and  comprehending  at  a  glance  the  nature  of  the  question 
at  issue,  he  entered  into  the  conflict  with  great  earnestness  and 
vigor.  Through  the  newspapers  of  Missouri  and  Illinois  he 
portrayed  the  evils  of  slavery  and  the  wickedness  of  its  need 
less  expansion. 

Returning  to  Ohio,  he  commenced  the  publication  of  a  paper 


BENJAMIN  LUNDY.  169 

whose  spirit  and  purpose  were  well  expressed  by  its  name, 
the  "Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation,"  —  a  journal  that 
was  destined  from  the  start  to  a  marked  and  stormy  career. 
After  several  months  it  was  removed  to  Tennessee,  where  it 
obtained  quite  a  wide  circulation,  and  was  at  that  time  the  only 
distinctive  antislavery  paper  in  the  country.  During  his  resi 
dence  there  he  visited  Philadelphia  for  the  purpose  of  attend 
ing  the  American  Convention  for  the  Abolition  of  Slavery, 
"  travelling,"  he  says,  "  six  hundred  miles  on  horseback  in 
midwinter,  and  at  his  own  expense,"  —  a  cost  of  time,  labor, 
and  money  not  often,  if  ever,  equalled  by  the  most  devoted  an 
tislavery  men  of  later  years.  During  this  time  he  made  the 
acquaintance  of  other  Abolitionists ;  and,  though  without  much 
encouragement,  concluded  to  remove  his  paper  to  Baltimore. 
"  Having  arranged,"  he  said,  "  my  business  in  Tennessee, 
I  shouldered  my  knapsack,  and  set  out  for  Baltimore  on  foot 
in  the  summer  of  1824."  At  Deep  Creek,  North  Carolina,  he 
gave  his  first  public  lecture  on  slavery.  He  delivered  fifteen 
or  twenty  antislavery  addresses  in  different  parts  of  the  State, 
and  assisted  in  the  organization  of  a  dozen  antislavery  socie 
ties,  which  largely  and  rapidly  increased,  until  in  three  years 
they  embraced  some  three  thousand  members,  comprising  many 
persons  of  position  and  eminence. 

Pursuing  his  journey  through  the  middle  of  Virginia,  he 
held  meetings,  and  effected  the  organization  of  several  anti- 
slavery  societies  in  that  State.  Arriving  at  Baltimore,  where 
he  proposed  to  establish  his  paper,  he  was  received,  he  tells 
us,  even  by  the  antislavery  men,  "  civilly,  but  coolly  enough." 
They  expressed  strong  doubts  of  his  success,  and  gave  him 
very  little  encouragement.  Still  he  determined  to  persevere, 
and  in  1824  commenced  its  publication.  The  next  year  he 
visited  Hayti ;  but  found,  on  his  return,  that  his  wife  had  died 
during  his  absence,  that  his  home  was  broken  up,  and  his 
children  scattered.  Collecting  them,  and  placing  them  with 
friends  in  whom  he  confided,  he  says  :  "  I  renewed  my  vows 
to  devote  my  energies  to  the  cause  of  the  slave,  until  the  nation 
shall  be  effectually  roused  in  his  behalf."  With  the  aid  of 
a  few  warm  friends,  whose  sympathy  and  counsel  were  freely 


170       RISE   AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

given,  he  not  only  continued  the  publication  of  his  paper,  but 
was  successful  in  the  organization  of  several  societies. 

Believing  the  question  of  emancipation  to  be  a  political  one, 
he  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  presidential  election  of  1824,  and 
rendered  effective  service  to  the  victorious  party.  He  also 
avowed  his  readiness  to  support  the  Colonization  Society,  "  if  it 
united  with  its  policy  that  great  work  of  justice  and  righteous 
ness,  the  total  extirpation  of  slavery  from  the  soil  of  America." 
Avowing  emancipation  to  be  the  primary  object  with  him,  he 
could  not  for  a  moment  think  of  joining  in  any  colonization 
scheme  which  had  not  that  object  in  view.  In  the  summer  of 
1825  he  commenced  a  series  of  articles  on  the  domestic  slave- 
trade,  which  greatly  excited  the  slave-dealers  of  Baltimore, 
and  unquestionably  was  the  provoking  cause  of  the  brutal  as 
sault  made  upon  him  in  the  streets  of  that  city,  occasioning,  in 
the  end,  his  removal. 

In  the  year  1826  the  American  Convention  for  the  Aboli 
tion  of  Slavery  was  holden  in  Baltimore,  through  his  in 
fluence  ;  in  which  were  represented,  directly  and  indirectly, 
eighty-one  societies,  seventy-three  being  located  in  slaveh old- 
ing  States.  There  were  at  that  time  about  one  hundred  and 
forty  antislavery  societies  in  the  country,  of  which  one  hun 
dred  and  six  were  in  the  Southern  States.  About  the  same 
time  Mr.  Lundy  issued  an  address  to  the  Abolitionists,  main 
taining  that  the  most  expedient  course  to  be  pursued  was  to 
"  go  straight  forward  with  firmness  and  resolution  in  the  road 
we  have  already  begun  to  travel,  neither  turning  to  the  right 
hand  nor  to  the  left,  until  we  reach  the  glorious  mansion  where 
justice  sits  crowned  with  mercy,  and  where  men  esteem  their 
fellow-men  as  brethren.  For  my  own  part,"  he  said,  "  I  never 
calculate  how  soon  the  cause  of  rational  liberty  will  triumph 
over  that  of  cruelty  and  despotism  in  the  country."  Though 
these  were  his  sentiments  of  uncalculating  devotion,  and  he 
was  regardless  of  personal  consequences  and  secondary  con 
siderations,  it  is  evident,  from  some  recorded  remarks  of  his,  a 
few  months  later,  on  the  rapid  growth  of  antislavery  sentiment 
and  societies  during  the  twenty  preceding  years,  that,  like  most 
of  the  early  Abolitionists,  he  calculated  on  a  far  easier  and  ear- 


BENJAMIN  LUNDY.  171 

lier  triumph  than  the  nation  was  destined  to  witness.  They 
saw  and  felt  the  wickedness  of  slavery  ;  but  they  did  not,  as 
they  could  not,  comprehend  how  firmly  it  was  embedded  in  the 
very  foundation  of  the  civil,  industrial,  social,  and  ecclesias 
tical  institutions  of  the  country,  or  estimate  aright  the  tenacity 
of  its  hold  on  life. 

Mr.  Lundy,  however,  clearly  comprehended  and  fully  ac 
knowledged  the  necessity  and  the  duty  of  political  action.  In 
commenting,  in  the  summer  of  1827,  on  the  resolution  of  a 
county  antislavery  society  in  Ohio,  that  its  members  would 
support  no  persons  for  office  who  were  not  opposed  to  slavery, 
and  who  would  not  use  all  lawful  means  to  remedy  the  evil  by 
the  most  speedy  and  efficient  measures,  he  declared  that,  if  the 
friends  of  genuine  republicanism  would  act  upon  that  princi 
ple,  a  change  for  the  better  would  soon  be  witnessed.  He  held 
it  to  be  a  grand  mistake  that  the  people  of  the  free  States  had 
nothing  to  do  with  slaves.  "  They  guarantee,"  he  said,  "  the 
oppression  of  the  colored  man  in  this  country.  Let  them  wash 
their  hands  of  the  crime  ;  there  is  blood  on  every  finger." 
Later  he  said  :  "  I  now  fearlessly  and  boldly  assert  that  the 
subject  of  slavery  is  no  State-rights  matter,  but  that  all  the 
citizens  in  this  republic  are  interested  in  its  extinction,  and,  if 
ever  we  abolish  it,  the  influence  and  government  of  the  United 
States  must  effect  it."  Still  later,  in  1837,  he  said  :  "  The 
question  of  abolishing  slavery,  when  it  shall  be  acted  on,  must 
be  settled  at  the  ballot."  Thus  clearly  defined  and  lucidly  ex 
pressed  were  his  views  of  the  evil  and  its  remedy.  The  dis 
cussions  of  thirty  years  did  not  materially  enlarge  or  improve 
the  argument. 

In  May,  1828,  Mr.  Lundy  made  a  journey  to  the  Eastern 
States.  At  New  York  he  formed  the  acquaintance  of  Arthur 
Tappan.  At  Providence  he  met  William  Goodell,  of  whom, 
considering  the  latter's  subsequent  career,  he  has  left  the  sin 
gular  record  :  "  I  endeavored  to  arouse  him,  but  he  was  at  that 
time  slow  of  speech  on  that  subject."  At  Boston  he  said  he 
could  hear  of  no  Abolitionists  resident  in  the  place.  In  the 
house  where  he  boarded  he  met  Mr.  Garrison,  whom  he  wished 
to  find,  but  who  had  not  then  turned  his  attention  particularly 


172       RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

to  the  subject,  though  he  had  noticed  favorably  his  paper  in 
"  The  National  Philanthropist,"  a  temperance  journal  he  was 
then  editing.  He  found  in  him  a  congenial  spirit,  most  wel 
come  in  the  surrounding  apathy.  Honestly  inquiring  and 
receptive,  he  not  only  responded  favorably  to  his  appeals,  but 
rendered  present  aid  in  procuring  subscribers  and  getting  up 
meetings.  Mr.  Lundy  also  visited  the  clergy  and  called  a 
meeting,  at  which  eight  were  present,  to  whom  he  unfolded  his 
plans.  Most  assented,  —  at  least,  did  not  oppose,  —  except 
ing  one,  whom  he  challenged  to  public  debate.  His  chal 
lenge,  however,  was  not  accepted.  He  also  visited  New  Hamp 
shire,  Maine,  Connecticut,  and  New  York.  During  this  tour 
of  five  months  he  travelled  hundreds  of  miles,  often  on  foot, 
and  delivered  forty-three  public  addresses ;  "  scattering,"  he 
said,  "  the  seed  of  antislavery  in  strong  and  luxuriant  soil," 
although  it  "  was  then  the  very  winter  of  philanthropy." 

Returning  to  Baltimore,  he  attended,  as  delegate  from 
Maryland,  the  American  Convention  for  the  Abolition  of  Slav 
ery.  At  this  meeting  it  was  resolved  that  the  Convention 
should  thereafter  be  permanently  held  in  the  city  of  Wash 
ington.  One  was  held  in  the  winter  of  1829.  But  that  was 
the  last,  notwithstanding  this  resolution,  of  a  series  of  con 
ventions  inaugurated  in  1794  ;  so  little  did  the  antislavery  men 
of  those  days  understand  the  strength  of  the  foe  or  their 
own  weakness.  But  while  others  faltered,  Mr.  Lundy  did 
not,  though  he  felt  the  need  of  help.  He  remembered  his 
visit  to  Boston,  and  his  interview  with  Mr.  Garrison  ;  and  he 
longed  to  have  him  for  a  coadjutor  in  this  unequal  strife. 
Accordingly,  in  the  autumn  of  1828,  he  visited  New  England, 
to  persuade  him,  if  possible,  to  join  him  in  the  editorial  man 
agement  of  the  "  Genius."  Mr.  Garrison  was  then  editing  a 
paper  in  Vermont,  and  he  thus  describes  Mr.  Lundy' s  visit : 
"  He  had  taken  his  staff  in  hand  and  travelled  all  the  way  to 
the  Green  Mountains.  He  came  to  lay  it  on  my  conscience 
and  my  soul  that  I  should  join  him  in  this  work  of  seeking  the 
abolition  of  slavery.  And  he  so  presented  the  case,  with  the 
growing  disposition  I  had  to  take  up  the  cause,  that  I  said  to 
him  :  '  I  will  join  you  as  soon  as  my  engagement  ends  here ; 
and  then  we  will  see  what  can  be  done.' " 


BENJAMIN   LUNDY.  173 

In  the  summer  of  the  following  year  Mr.  Garrison,  on  Mr. 
Lundy's  return  from  Hayti,  fulfilled  his  promise,  and  became 
one  of  the  editors  of  the  paper,  though  the  two  were  not  in 
full  accord  in  all  their  sentiments.  But  they  were  both  honest 
and  earnest,  and  their  aims  were  one.  Elizabeth  Margaret 
Chandler  was  also  engaged  as  an  assistant,  and  the  paper  was 
changed  from  a  monthly  to  a  weekly  journal,  and  was  vigor 
ously  conducted  in  the  interests  of  temperance,  emancipation, 
and  peace.  Miss  Chandler  saon  issued  an  appeal  to  the  ladies 
of  the  United  States,  urging  them  to  enlist  in  the  cause  of 
emancipation,  and  to  form  female  antislavery  societies,  like 
those  in  Great  Britain. 

At  about  the  same  time  Mr.  Lundy  announced  through  his 
columns,  that  the  American  government  was  attempting  a 
negotiation  with  Mexico  for  the  purchase  of  Texas.  With 
his  usual  practical  sagacity,  assuming  that  all  such  attempted 
negotiations  were  made  for  the  support  of  slavery,  he  sounded 
the  alarm  and  began  an  opposition  which  he  never  remitted. 
Nor  was  he  content  with  this  general  protest;  he  soon  pro 
ceeded,  at  the  cost  of  much  personal  sacrifice,  exposure,  and 
danger,  to  visit  and  travel  once  and  again  over  large  portions 
of  that  country  and  of  Mexico,  often  in  disguise.  By  this 
personal  inspection,  made  in  the  general  behalf  of  the  slave 
and  escaped  fugitives,  he  became  familiar  with  the  whole 
Texan  plot,  so  that  the  information  gained  was  of  great  ser 
vice  to  John  Quincy  Adams  and  others  during  the  annexation 
struggle,  even  then  casting  its  baleful  shadows  before. 

The  connection  between  Mr.  Lundy  and  Mr.  Garrison  was 
not,  however,  productive  of  all  the  good  the  former  had  fondly 
anticipated.  The  growing  exasperation  of  the  slaveholding 
portion  of  the  city  at  any  interference  with  the  system  was 
greatly  intensified  and  brought  to  a  crisis  by  the  severe  attacks 
of  Mr.  Garrison  upon  the  domestic  slave-traffic  in  general,  and 
upon  the  conduct  of  a  New  England  master  of  a  vessel,  in 
particular,  in  taking  a  cargo  of  slaves  to  the  New  Orleans 
market.  A  prosecution,  trial,  conviction,  and  imprisonment 
were  the  result,  rendering  a  dissolution  of  their  partnership 
inevitable.  Another  circumstance  had  unquestionably  added 


174       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

fuel  to  the  flame  already  burning  fiercely.  A  colored  man,  in 
Boston,  by  the  name  of  Walker,  had  published  a  pamphlet, 
which  was  freely  condemned  by  Mr.  Lundy,  in  which,  arraign 
ing  with  terrible  and  merciless  severity  the  slave-masters  for 
their  wrongs  inflicted  on  the  poor  bondmen,  and  breathing  a 
most  vindictive  spirit,  he  counselled  the  colored  race  to  take 
vengeance  into  their  own  hands. 

Consequently,  when  Mr.  Garrison  had  been  driven  from  the 
city,  the  same  spirit  of  persecution  followed  Mr.  Lundy.  The 
governor  required  him  to  give  bail,  libel  suits  and  threatened 
imprisonment  lowered,  and  personal  outrage  and  violence  in 
the  streets  rendered  longer  residence  unsafe.  He  was  finally 
compelled  to  succumb  and  remove  his  paper  to  Washington. 
Through  his  influence,  while  in  that  city,  an  antislavery  society 
was  formed  ;  and  a  memorial,  signed  by  more  than  a  thousand 
citizens  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  was  presented  to  Congress 
for  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  slave-trade. 

His  paper  failing  for  want  of  patronage,  he  started  another 
in  1886,  in  Philadelphia,  called  the  "  National  Inquirer."  Re 
tiring  from  this  in  1838,  and  being  succeeded  by  John  G.  Whit- 
tier,  who  changed  the  name  to  "  The  Pennsylvania  Freeman," 
he  proposed  to  go  West,  and  resume  the  publication  of  the 
"  Genius"  in  some  town  in  the  great  valley.  Having  gathered 
up  his  little  store  of  earthly  possessions,  he  deposited  them 
in  the  new  Pennsylvania  Hall,  which,  with  his  deposit,  was 
burned  by  the  mob  in  the  spring  of  1838.  Nothing  daunted 
or  disheartened  by  what  lie  termed  this  "  total  sacrifice  on 
the  altar  of  universal  emancipation,"  saying,  "  they  have  not 
yet  got  my  conscience,  they  have  not  taken  my  heart,"  he  still 
persisted  in  his  purpose  of  going  West.  After  many  disap 
pointments,  he  succeeded  in  getting  out  a  few  numbers  ;  but, 
for  lack  of  funds  and  help,  it  could  not  be  said  to  have  been 
established.  But  the  good  man's  work  was  finished.  He  was 
attacked  with  the  fever  of  the  country,  and,  after  a  brief  illness, 
died  on  the  23d  of  August,  1839,  in  the  fifty-first  year  of  his 
age. 

Thus  passed  away  in  the  prime  of  his  manhood  and  in  the 
full  maturity  of  his  powers  one  of  the  most  humane,  unselfish, 


BENJAMIN  LUNDY.  175 

laborious,  and  persistent  of  men.  There  have  been  abler  men, 
men  rendering  greater  service  ;  but  few  have  possessed  more 
largeness  of  heart,  more  uncalculating  self-abnegation,  or  have 
filled  up  the  measure  of  their  lives  with  more  self-sacrificing 
labors  for  the  good  of  others.  From  the  year  1820  to  1830 
he  states  that  he  travelled  twenty-five  thousand  miles,  five 
thousand  on  foot ;  that  he  visited  nineteen  States,  made  two 
voyages  to  Hayti,  and  delivered  more  than  two  hundred  public 
addresses.  Nor  were  the  last  nine  years  of  his  life  less  replete 
with  like  achievements.  During  those  years,  in  addition  to 
his  other  abundant  labors,  he  made  several  tours  to  Canada, 
Texas,  and  Mexico,  in  the  earnest,  but  vain  search  after  shel 
ter  and  relief  for  the  lowly  ones  who  could  not  find  protection 
in  their  native  land.  Indeed,  as  richly  did  he  merit,  as  he  on 
whom  it  was  bestowed,  —  as  his  service  was  more  laborious, 
more  protracted,  and  more  widely  extended,  —  the  splendid 
eulogium  of  Burke  on  the  philanthropist  Howard  :  "  His  was 
a  voyage  of  discovery,  a  circumnavigation  of  charity." 

And  this  service  was  rendered  under  circumstances  well 
calculated  to  try  his  temper  and  test  his  strength  of  principle ; 
for  not  only  did  he  perform  those  journeyings  often  on  foot 
and  always  without  the  modern  appliances  of  travel,  but  most 
of  his  multitudinous  labors  were  performed  without  the  stimu 
lus  of  success  or  the  cheering  words  of  sympathy  and  encour 
agement.  His  pilgrimage  from  Maryland  to  Vermont,  "  staff 
in  hand,"  for  the  simple  chance  of  enlisting  a  co-laborer  was 
sadly  significant.  He  was  called  to  lead  the  "  forlorn  hope  " 
of  a  desperate  cause  against  opposing  foes  increasing  in  num 
bers  and  flushed  with  recent  victories.  And  not  only  that,  but 
he  was  compelled  to  witness  the  manifest  decadence  of  the 
spirit  of  liberty  in  the  government,  and  of  resistance  to  the 
demands  of  slavery  among  the  masses  of  his  countrymen. 

Twenty-three  years  of  such  labor,  under  such  circumstances, 
are  not  often  paralleled  even  in  the  annals  of  Christian  mis 
sions  and  reforms.  Well  does  his  biographer,  Mr.  Thomas 
Earle,  say  of  him :  u  Having  resolved,  twenty-three  years 
before  his  decease,  to  devote  his  energies  to  the  relief  of  the 
Buffering  slave  and  the  oppressed  man  of  color,  he  persevered 


176       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

to  the  end,  undeterred  by  difficulties  and  undismayed  by  dan 
gers,  undiscouraged  by  disappointments  and  unsubdued  by 
sacrifices.  Alone,  often  on  foot,  he  encountered  fatigue,  hun 
ger,  and  exposure,  the  frosts  and  snows  of  winter,  the  rains  and 
scorching  sun  of  summer,  the  contagion  of  pestilence  and  the 
miasmatic  effluvia  of  insalubrious  regions,  ever  pressing  on 
ward  toward  the  attainment  of  the  great  object  to  which  he 
had  dedicated  his  existence." 

In  the  great  conflict  between  freedom  and  slavery  in  America 
many  names  became  historic,  a  few  illustrious.  No  person  is 
more  inseparably  associated  with  that  struggle  than  William 
Lloyd  Garrison.  Men  have  differed,  do  and  will  differ,  in  their 
estimate  of  his  distinctive  doctrines  and  modes  of  action,  and 
of  his  influence  on  the  final  result ;  but  he  will  ever  be  asso 
ciated  in  their  memories  with  the  conflict  which  emancipated 
one  race  and  broke  the  power  of  another. 

Born  at  Newburyport,  Massachusetts,  December  12,  1804, 
Mr.  Garrison  learned  the  art  of  printing,  and  commenced  his 
editorial  career  at  twenty-one  years  of  age.  He  was  first  con 
nected  with  the  "  Free  Press,"  in  his  native  town  ;  next  with 
the  "  National  Philanthropist,"  a  temperance  paper,  published 
in  Boston  ;  then  with  the  "  Journal  of  the  Times,"  at  Benning- 
ton,  Yermont ;  then  with  the  "  Genius  of  Universal  Emanci 
pation,"  at  Baltimore  ;  and  finally,  with  "  The  Liberator," 
which  he  established  in  Boston,  January  1,  1831,  and  of 
which  he  was  the  editor  during  the  thirty-five  years  of  its  ex 
istence.  During  these  forty  years  of  continuous  editorial  ser 
vice  he  evinced  singular  personal  independence,  rare  moral 
courage,  and  an  uncompromising  fidelity  to  his  convictions  and 
to  the  claims  of  humanity. 

While  at  Boston,  in  the  spring  of  1828,  he  became  acquainted 
with  Benjamin  Lundy,  then  on  his  first  tour  to  the  Eastern 
States  in  the  service  of  the  slave.  He  there  listened  to  the 
cogent  reasonings  and  was  moved  by  the  tender  appeals  of 
that  singularly  disinterested  and  tireless  champion,  who  had 
consecrated  his  life  to  the  cause  of  his  oppressed  countrymen, 
and  ever  gratefully  acknowledged  these  obligations. 

When,  in  1828,  Mr.  Garrison  assumed  the  editorial  control 


WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON.  177 

of  the  "  Journal  of  the  Times,"  at  Bennington,  Vermont,  he 
announced  in  his  editorial  address  that  the  paper  would  be  in 
dependent  in  the  broadest  and  stoutest  signification  of  the 
term ;  that  it  should  be  trammelled  by  no  interest,  biassed  by  no 
sect,  awed  by  no  power.  He  distinctly  avowed  that  he  had 
three  objects  in  view,  which  he  should  pursue  through  life, 
whether  in  that  place  or  elsewhere  ;  and  those  three  objects  were 
"  the  suppression  of  intemperance  and  its  associate  vices,  the 
gradual  emancipation  of  every  slave  in  the  Republic,  and  the 
perpetuity  of  national  peace."  He  pledged  himself  that  what 
might  be  wanting  in  vigor  should  be  made  up  in  zeal.  This 
independence  and  this  avowal  elicited  from  Mr.  Lundy,  who 
had  sought  to  secure  Mr.  Garrison's  services  for  his  "  Genius  of 
Universal  Emancipation,"  the  warmest  commendations,  because 
he  had  shown  "  a  laudable  disposition  to  advocate  the  claims 
of  the  poor,  distressed  African  upon  our  sympathy  and  justice." 
And  he  declared,  if  he  continued  to  advocate  the  cause  of  the 
unfortunate  negro,  that  "  his  talents  will  render  him  a  most 
valuable  coadjutor  in  this  holy  undertaking." 

Mr.  Garrison  continued  his  connection  with  the  "  Journal  of 
the  Times  "  for  several  months  ;  but  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
summer  of  1829  he  became  associated  with  Mr.  Lundy  in  the 
editorship  of  his  paper,  in  Baltimore.  In  this  new  field  he  was 
brought  into  more  immediate  contact  with  slavery ;  and  yet 
his  utterances  were  no  less  decided  and  strong,  still  proclaim 
ing  his  unrelenting  hostility  to  slavery,  intemperance,  and  war. 
Although  at  first  he  had  looked  with  favor  on  the  colonization 
scheme,  as  "  an  auxiliary  to  abolition  "  deserving  encourage 
ment,  yet  utterly  inadequate  alone,  a  short  residence  at  Balti 
more,  and  a  fuller  acquaintance  with  the  spirit  and  purposes 
of  its  advocates,  soon  led  him  to  discard  and  denounce  it,  and 
from  that  time  onward  to  become  one  of  its  most  uncompro 
mising  foes.  On  the  subject  of  slavery  he  claimed  that  slaves 
were  entitled  to  complete  and  immediate  emancipation ;  that 
expediency  had  no  place  in  the  consideration  of  questions  of 
simple  right ;  that,  even  if  the  question  of  expediency  were 
admitted  into  the  discussion,  it  remained  true  that  the  sooner 
the  chains  were  broken  the  wiser  the  act ;  and  that,  if  the  idea 

23 


178       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

of  removing  the  slaves  from  the  country  were  not  visionary,  as 
he  contended  it  was,  all  colored  people  born  on  the  soil  had  the 
right  to  remain,  and  none  had  the  right  to  compel  their  removal. 

The  sinfulness  of  slavery  and  the  duty  of  immediate  eman 
cipation  had  been  often  proclaimed  before,  —  at  least,  in  sub 
stance,  if  not  in  the  precise  phraseology  of  the  new  formula. 
Edwards,  Hopkins,  and  Emmons,  of  the  last  century,  as  Wes 
ley  before  them,  who  had  condensed  his  estimate  of  the  sys 
tem  into  that  burning  and  oft-repeated  sentence,  "  Slavery  is 
the  sum  of  all  villanies,"  had  stated,  as  strongly  as  language 
could  express  the  thought,  the  essential  wrongfulness  of  the 
system,  and  the  duty  of  immediate  repentance,  with  the  conse 
quent  fruits  meet  for  repentance.  Rev.  John  Rankin,  whose 
name  is  honorably  associated  with  the  earlier  antislavery  efforts 
of  the  present  century,  was  a  native  of  Tennessee  ;  and  he  tes 
tifies  that  in  his  "  boyhood  "  a  majority  of  the  people  of  East 
ern  Tennessee,  though  not  of  the  State,  were  Abolitionists.  In 
Kentucky,  where  he  was  first  settled  in  the  ministry,  he  says  : 
"  We  had  our  abolition  societies,  auxiliary  to  a  State  society 
then  existing."  He  spoke  openly  against  the  "  sin  "  of  slav 
ery,  while  the  people  of  his  church  showed  the  sincerity  of 
their  opposition  by  leaving  the  State  almost  as  a  body,  because 
of  the  increasing  proslavery  spirit  of  the  people  therein.  At 
an  anniversary  meeting  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society 
at  New  York,  he  declared  that  he  himself  and  the  antislavery 
societies  of  the  South  believed  and  avowed  the  doctrine  of  im 
mediate  emancipation. 

In  Ohio  the  antislavery  sentiment  was  not  only  decided,  but 
active.  Indeed,  several  years  before  the  formation  of  the 
American  Antislavery  Society  the  Chilicothe  Presbytery  made 
strenuous  efforts  to  purge  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  sin 
of  slavery.  The  Cincinnati  Synod,  on  motion  of  Dr.  Samuel 
Crothers,  unanimously  "  resolved  that  the  holding  of  slaves 
for  gain  is  heinous  sin  and  scandal."  In  1825  Elizabeth  Hey- 
rick,  of  England,  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  had  pub 
lished  a  pamphlet,  entitled,  "  Immediate,  not  Gradual  Emanci 
pation,"  which  was  somewhat  in  advance  of  the  general 
sentiment  of  the  British  people,  though  they  were  not  long  in 


WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON.  179 

arriving  at  the  same  conclusion.  It  is  stated,  however,  by 
Oliver  Johnson,  who  had  it  on  the  highest  authority,  that  Mr. 
Garrison  had  not  seen  the  work  before  he  wrought  out  the 
same  sentiment  in  his  own  mind,  basing  his  conclusion  on 
the  two-fold  grounds  of  "  moral  duty  and  logical  necessity." 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  new  circumstances  in  which 
Mr.  Garrison  found  himself,  with  the  sad  and  revolting  scenes 
which  were  daily  enacted  before  his  eyes  in  a  slaveholding  com 
munity,  and  in  a  slave-mart  like  Baltimore,  quickened  both 
mind  and  heart,  and  hastened  convictions  to  which  he  soon  ar 
rived,  and  which,  when  reached,  he  was  not  slow  to  enunci 
ate  in  language  unequivocal  and  strong.  For  not  only  was 
slavery  there,  with  its  ordinary  incidents  of  "  wrong  and  out 
rage,"  but  Baltimore  was  then,  next  to  Richmond,  the  great 
Northern  slave-mart  of  the  Border  States.  It  was  the  slave- 
trader's  exchange,  where  was  the  slave-prison  and  where  could 
be  witnessed  the  revolting  atrocities  of  the  auction-block  and 
the  saddening  exhibitions  of  the  coffle  and  the  slave-ship,  with 
their  heart-breaking  partings,  their  apprehensions,  and  their 
despairing  dread  of  impending  evils.  In  a  community  where 
such  scenes  were  common,  and  among  a  people  accustomed  to 
them  and  acquiescent  in  them,  Mr.  Garrison  was  not  long  in 
tracing  the  logic  of  the  system,  and  in  detecting  the  real  ten 
dency  of  colonization,  and  the  empty  pretensions  of  those  who 
advocated  it  as  a^  means  of  removing  the  evils  of  the  system 
of  oppression. 

The  subject,  however,  which  more 'particularly  stirred  his 
soul  and  fired  his  indignation,  and  which  called  forth  his  fier 
cest  anathemas,  was  the  interstate  slave-trade.  In  the  prose 
cution  of  this  general  traffic  an  incident  and  illustration  soon 
occurred  which  especially  excited  his  feelings,  and  called  forth 
his  sternest  rebukes  and  his  most  objurgatory  language.  The 
captain  of  a  vessel  owned  by  Francis  Todd,  of  his  own  native 
town  of  Newburyport,  took,  with  the  owner's  consent,  a  cargo 
of  slaves  for  the  New  Orleans  market.  In  consequence  of  the 
severity  of  his  rebuke  and  his  unmeasured  words  of  condem 
nation,  both  a  civil  and  criminal  suit  were  instituted  against 
Mr.  Garrison.  Tried  by  a  proslavery  court  and  jury,  he  was, 


180        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN   AMERICA. 

of  course,  convicted,  and   his   sentence  embraced   both  im 
prisonment  and  fine. 

The  knowledge  of  this,  and  the  great  wrong  done  to  an 
American  citizen  simply  for  language  employed  only  in  be 
half  of  freedom  and  against  oppression,  excited  a  good  deal  of 
feeling,  as  it  became  known,  among  the  philanthropists  of  the 
time.  The  case  was  brought  by  Mr.  Lundy  to  the  notice  of 
that  munificent  as  well  as  earnest  friend  of  the  slave,  Arthur 
Tappan  of  New  York,  who  at  once  paid  the  fine  ;  so  that,  after 
an  incarceration  of  seven  weeks,  Mr.  Garrison  was  set  free. 
It  is  said  that  Henry  Clay  was  on  the  point  of  doing  the  same 
thing,  through  the  earnest  solicitation  of  John  G.  Whittier,  who 
represented  to  him  that  Mr.  Garrison  had  been  an  earnest  and 
effective  advocate  of  the  election  of  John  Quincy  Adams. 
This  action  of  the  agents  of  slavery  completed  the  work  already 
far  advanced,  and  made  Mr.  Garrison  ever  afterward  an  un 
compromising,  if  not  a  bitter  foe,  not  only  to  slavery,  but  to 
everything  that  interposed  itself  between  hin^and  the  object 
of  his  unconquerable  aversion  and  determined  hostility.  Noth 
ing  was  too  high  or  too  low,  nothing  was  too  strong  or  too  sa 
cred,  to  escape  his  fierce  denunciations.  No  iconoclast  ever 
dashed  down  more  remorselessly  the  idols  of  popular  regard. 
The  oath  of  eternal  hostility  to  Rome  which  the  youthful  Han 
nibal  was  made  to  swear  was  not  more  sacredly  kept  than  was 
the  vow  of  the  young  reformer,  as  he  went  forth  from  that  Bal 
timore  prison,  against  that  power  which  held  millions  of  his 
countrymen  in  chains,*  and  which  would  silence  free  speech 
and  destroy  the  liberty  of  the  press. 

Imprisonment  neither  intimidated  nor  silenced  him.  From 
that  Baltimore  jail  he  sent  forth  a  letter  in  which  he  ar 
raigned  the  law  and  the  arbitrary  conduct  of  the  court.  "  Is 
it,"  he  asked,  "  supposed  by  Judge  Brice  that  his  frowns  can 
intimidate  me,  or  his  sentence  stifle  my  voice  on  the  subject  of 
oppression  ?  He  does  not  know  me.  So  long  as  a  good  Provi 
dence  gives  me  strength  and  intellect,  I  will  not  cease  to  de 
clare  that  the  existence  of  slavery  in  this  country  is  a  foul 
reproach  to  the  American  name  ;  nor  will  I  hesitate  to  pro 
claim  the  guilt  of  kidnappers,  slavery  abettors,  or  slave-owners, 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAERISON.  181 

wherever  they  may  reside,  or  however  high  they  may  be 
exalted.  I  am  only  in  the  alphabet  of  my  task ;  time  shall 
perfect  a  useful  work.  It  is  my  shame  that  I  have  done  so 
little  for  the  people  of  color ;  yea,  before  God,  I  feel  humbled 
that  my  feelings  are  so  cold  and  my  language  so  weak.  A 
free  white  victim  must  be  sacrificed  to  open  the  eyes  of  the 
nation,  and  to  show  the  tyranny  of  our  laws.  I  expect,  and 
am  willing  to  be  persecuted,  imprisoned,  and  bound  for  ad 
vocating  the  rights  of  my  colored  countrymen  ;  and  I  should 
deserve  to  be  a  slave  myself  if  I  shrank  from  that  danger." 

This  violent  individual  demonstration  was,  however,  but 
significant  of  the  general  feeling  and  policy  toward  this  anti- 
slavery  sheet  and  its  heroic  conductors.  Nor  did  the  persecu 
tions,  slanders,  and  libel  suits  which  they  prompted  fail  of 
their  purpose.  Former  friends  timidly  shrunk  from  the  fierce 
conflict,  and  withheld  both  their  moral  and  pecuniary  support ; 
and  even  these  earnest  and  brave  men  were  compelled  so  far 
to  succumb  to  the  popular  pressure  as  to  dissolve  their  partner 
ship,  and  the  paper  was  changed  from  a  weekly  to  a  monthly 
journal.  But,  though  not  agreed  in  all  things,  they  parted 
with  "  the  kindliest  feelings  and  mutual  personal  regard." 
Mr.  Lundy  declared  that  Mr.  Garrison  "  had  proven  himself  a 
faithful  and  able  coadjutor  in  the  great  and  holy  cause";  and 
the  latter,  in  separating  from  his  philanthropic  friend,  ex 
pressed  the  hope  that  "  we  shall  ever  remain  one  in  spirit 
and  purpose." 

After  his  liberation  from  prison,  in  June,  1830,  Mr.  Garri 
son  proceeded  North,  delivering  a  course  of  antislavery  lec 
tures  in  Philadelphia,  New  York,  New  Haven,  Hartford,  Bos 
ton,  Charlestown,  and  other  cities  and  towns  of  New  England. 
In  these  lectures  he  maintained  the  sinfulness  of  slavery,  and 
the  duty  of  immediate  and  unconditional  emancipation.  The 
colonization  scheme,  which  had  obtained  a  strong  hold  upon 
the  confidence  and  support  of  the  churches  and  the  benevolent 
people  of  the  North,  was  sternly  arraigned,  and  the  designs  of 
its  originators  were  declared  to  be  hostile  to  the  free  people  of 
color  in  the  slaveholding  States.  Earnest  appeals  were  made, 
especially  to  members  of  Christian  churches,  to  engage  at 


182        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

once  in  the  work  of  immediate  and  unconditional  emancipa 
tion,  which  was  proclaimed  to  be  the  duty  of  the  people  and 
the  right  of  the  slave.  But  these  views  were  far  in  advance 
of  the  prevailing  sentiments  of  even  most  of  the  members  of 
the  churches  ;  and  although  some  gladly  accepted  them,  the 
many  were  either  hostile  or  indifferent.  It  was  often  with  dif 
ficulty,  therefore,  that  churches  .were  opened  for  his  addresses, 
and  sometimes  they  were  positively  refused. 

In  the  month  of  August  he  issued  proposals  for  the  publica 
tion  of  a  journal,  to  be  called  "  The  Liberator,"  in  the  city  of 
Washington.  The  proposition,  though  hailed  with  favor  by  a 
few  persons  in  different  sections  of  the  country,  was  "  palsied 
by  public  indifference."  The  persecutions  against  Mr.  Lundy 
had  also  been  so  great  in  Baltimore  that  he  had  been  com 
pelled  to  remove  the  "  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation  "  to 
the  seat  of  the  Federal  government,  thus  rendering  the  estab 
lishment  of  "  The  Liberator  "  there  less  necessary. 

But  there  was  another  reason  for  changing  the  place  of  the 
publication  of  the  proposed  journal.  This  reason  is  given  by 
Mr.  Garrison  in  his  first  number,  which  was  published  in 
Boston,  in  January,  1831 :  — 

"  During  my  recent  tour,"  he  says,  "  for  the  purpose  of 
exciting  the  minds  of  the  people  by  a  series  of  discourses  on 
the  subject  of  slavery,  every  place  that  I  visited  gave  fresh 
evidence  of  the  fact 'that  a  greater  revolution  in  public  senti 
ment  was  to  be  effected  in  the  free  States,  and  particularly  in 
New  England,  than  at  the  South.  I  found  contempt  more  bit 
ter,  detraction  more  relentless,  prejudice  more  stubborn,  and 
apathy  more  frozen  than  among  slave- owners  themselves.  Of 
course,  there  were  individual  exceptions  to  the  contrary. 
This  state  of  things  afflicted,  but  did  not  dishearten  me.  I 
determined  at  every  hazard  to  lift  up  the  standard  of  emanci 
pation  in  the  eyes  of  the  nation,  within  sight  of  Bunker  Hill, 
and  in  the  birthplace  of  Liberty.  That  standard  is  now  un 
furled  ;  and  long  may  it  float,  unhurt  by  the  spoliations  of 
time  or  the  missiles  of  a  desperate  foe,  —  yea,  till  every  chain 
be  broken  and  every  bondman  set  free !  Let  Southern  op 
pressors  tremble,  —  let  their  secret  abettors  tremble,  —  let 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARKISON.  183 

their  Northern  apologists  tremble,  —  let  all  the  enemies  of 
the  persecuted  blacks  tremble  !  " 

In  establishing  "  The  Liberator,"  Mr.  Garrison  announced 
that  he  should  not  array  himself  as  the  political  partisan  of 
any  man,  and  that,  in  defending  the  great  cause  of  human 
rights,  he  wished  "  to  derive  the  assistance  of  all  religions  and 
of  all  parties." 

Many  persons,  however,  who  had  become  deeply  interested 
in  Mr.  Garrison's  addresses  in  the  summer  and  autumn 
deemed  his  language  too  vituperative,  denunciatory,  and  se 
vere.  Some  of  his  earliest  and  most  intimate  friends,  who 
earnestly  desired  the  success  of  his  cause,  had  often  remon 
strated  with  him.  In  his  salutatory  address,  referring  to 
these  remonstrances,  he  said  :  — 

"  I  am  aware  that  many  object  to  the  severity  of  my  lan 
guage  ;  but  is  there  not  cause  for  severity  ?  I  will  be  as  harsh 
as  truth,  and  as  uncompromising  as  justice.  On  this  subject 
I  do  not  wish  to  think  or  speak  or  write  with  moderation. 
No  !  No  !  Tell  a  man  whose  house  is  on  fire  to  give  a 
moderate  alarm ;  tell  him  to  moderately  rescue  his  wife  from 
the  hands  of  the  ravisher  ;  tell  the  mother  to  gradually  extri 
cate  her  babe  from  the  fire  into  which  it  has  fallen  ;  but  urge 
me  not  to  use  moderation  in  a  cause  like  the  present.  I 
am  in  earnest,  —  I  will  not  equivocate,  —  I  will  not  excuse, 
—  I  will  not  retreat  a  single  inch,  —  AND  I  WILL  BE  HEARD. 
The  apathy  of  the  people  is  enough  to  make  every  statue 
leap  from  its  pedestal,  and  to  hasten  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead  ! " 

To  those  who  questioned  the  wisdom  of  his  course,  he 
replied :  — 

"  It  is  pretended  that  I  am  retarding  the  cause  of  emanci 
pation  by  the  coarseness  of  my  invective  and  the  precipitancy 
of  my  measures.  The  charge  is  not  true.  On  this  question 
my  influence,  humble  as  it  is,  is  felt  at  this  moment  to  a  con 
siderable  extent,  and  shall  be  felt  in  coming  years,  not  perni 
ciously,  but  beneficially,  —  not  as  a  curse,  but  as  a  blessing ; 
and  posterity  will  bear  testimony  that  I  was  right.  I  desire 
to  thank  God  that  he  enables  me  to  disregard  '  the  fear  of  man 


184       RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

that  bringeth  a  snare,'  and  to  speak  his  truth  in  its  simplicity 
and  power." 

He  closed  with  the  vow  to  oppose  and  thwart  the  brutalizing 
sway  of  oppression, 

"  till  Afric's  chains 
Are  burst,  and  freedom  rules  the  rescued  land." 

Mr.  Garrison's  partner  in  the  publication  of  "  The  Libera 
tor  "  was  Mr.  Isaac  Knapp,  a  printer,  like  himself,  and  also  a 
native  of  the  same  town.  The  paper  was  commenced  without 
funds  and  without  a  single  subscriber.  Bearing  the  compre 
hensive  and  cosmopolitan  motto,  "  My  country  is  the  world, 
my  countrymen  are  all  mankind,"  it  appealed  to  no  party,  sect, 
or  interest  for  recognition  and  support.  Both  editor  and  prin 
ter  labored  hard  and  fared  meagrely ;  and  it  was  only  thus 
—  and  a  marvel  it  was  at  that  —  that  their  journal  lived. 
But  Mr.  Garrison  had  a  mission  to  fulfil,  and  he  bravely 
met  the  conditions  it  imposed.  For,  whatever  may  be  the 
estimate  of  his  policy,  and  whatever  may  have  been  his 
mistakes,  none  can  withhold  the  meed  of  admiration  at  the 
moral  courage  and  faith  he  exhibited  as  he  entered  upon  his 
life's  work.  Hardly  grander  were  their  exhibition  when  Kep 
ler  was  working  out  his  problem  of  the  solar  system,  willing 
to  "  wait  a  century  for  a  reader  "  ;  when  Columbus  was  travel 
ling  through  Europe,  from  court  to  court,  from  philosopher  to 
prince,  in  the  vain  search  for  a  convert  to  his  new  theory  of  a 
western  passage  to  the  Indies  ;  or  even  when  Luther  was  nail 
ing  his  theses  to  the  door  of  the  church,  and  thus  braving  the 
thunders  of  the  Vatican,  than  when  that  young  man  —  with 
no  advantages  of  birth  or  culture,  with  wounds  still  bleeding 
from  his  recent  encounter  with  the  dark  and  bloody  tyrant,  in 
his  dingy  room  of  sixteen  feet  square,  at  once  his  sanctum, 
workshop,  and  home  —  made  assault  upon  a  despotism  which 
not  only  trampled  millions  of  slaves  in  the  dust,  but  domi 
nated  the  whole  country,  binding  both  church  and  state  in 
chains,  and  there  forged  his  weapons  of  warfare  from  the 
indestructible  materials  of  God's  Word  and  the  Declaration 
of  Independence.  It  must  have  been  something  more  than 
"  the  grace  of  indignation "  which  urged  him  on,  which 


WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAREISON.  185 

crowned  him  with  the  honors  of  imprisonment,  gave  him  the 
garland  of  a  rope,  the  escort  of  a  mob  of  Boston's  "  respecta 
bility  and  standing,"  and  extorted  such  honorable  mention  by 
Southern  governors  and  legislatures  as  can  now  be  gathered 
from  their  records. 

It  was  not  that  Mr.  Garrison  discovered  any  new^  truths,  or 
that  he  stood  alone,  which  gave  him  his  prominence  from  the 
start.  The  sinfulness  of  slaveholding  and  the  duty  of  its 
immediate  relinquishment  had  been  as  unequivocally  pro 
claimed  by  others,  and  there  were  those  then  in  the  field  as 
decided  and  pronounced  as  he.  It  must  have  arisen  partly, 
at  least,  from  the  peculiar  state  of  public  opinion  at  that  time. 
After  the  crowning  triumph  of  the  Slave  Power  in  the  Missouri 
Compromise,  and  in  the  sectional  victory  of  the  South,  by  the 
defeat  of  Mr.  Adams  and  the  election  of  General  Jackson, 
there  seemed  to  be  a  general  acquiescence  on  the  part  of  the 
people  in  these  triumphs,  and  a  growing  disposition  to  remit 
further  antislavery  effort. 

The  nation  had  reached  its  nadir ;  for,  though  there  were 
subsequently  other  aggressions,  more  flagrant  outrages,  and 
new  concessions  and  compromises,  yet  never  after  that  was 
the  nation  so  voiceless  and  timid.  Cowed  and  silent  before 
the  domineering  Power,  with  the  number  of  protestants  grow 
ing  fewer  and  feebler,  the  very  boldness  and  seeming  audacity 
of  the  young  man  in  his  attic,  telling  the  nation  that  he  was 
in  earnest  and  would  be  heard,  aroused  attention.  The  very 
deliberation  with  which  he  heralded  and  began  the  assault,  the 
stern  defiance  he  bade  the  foe  at  whose  feet  he  threw  the 
gauntlet  of  mortal  combat,  made  him  the  mark  for  criticism 
and  hostile  demonstration,  as  well  as  the  rallying  point  of 
those  who  sympathized  with  him  in  spirit  and  in  purpose.  His 
impartiality,  too,  between  sects  and  parties,  men  and  schools, 
constitutions  and  laws,  and  whatever  arrayed  itself  against  the 
slave  or  remained  neutral,  increased  that  attention  and  criti 
cism. 

His  pen,  if  possible,  was  more  severe,  caustic,  and  exasper 
ating  than  had  been  his  speech.  While  friends  generally 
doubted  and  questioned,  and  the  people  condemned,  the 

24 


186       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

slaveholders  were  stung  to  madness.  Before  the  close  of  the 
first  year,  the  Vigilance  Association  of  Columbia,  South  Caro 
lina,  "  composed  of  gentlemen  of  the  first  respectability," 
offered  a  reward  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars  for  the  apprehen 
sion  and  conviction  of  any  white  person  detected  in  circulat 
ing  in  that  State  "  the  newspaper  called  4  The  Liberator.'  " 
The  corporation  of  Georgetown,  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
passed  an  ordinance  rendering  it  penal  for  any  free  person  of 
color  to  take  from  the  posi>ofnce  "  the  paper  published  in 
Boston  called  '  The  Liberator,' "  the  punishment  for  each  of 
fence  to  be  twenty  dollars'  fine  or  thirty  days'  imprisonment. 
In  case  the  offender  was  not  able  to  pay  the  fine,  or  the  fees 
for  imprisonment,  he  was  to  be  sold  into  slavery  for  four 
months.  The  grand  jury  of  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  at  the 
instigation  of  the  attorney-general,  made  an  indictment 
against  the  editor  and  publisher  of  "  The  Liberator  "  for  its 
circulation  in  that  county.  The  legislature  of  Georgia  pro 
ceeded  to  pass  an  act,  which  was  promptly  signed  by  Gover 
nor  Lumpkin,  offering  a  reward  of  five  thousand  dollars  for 
the  arrest,  prosecution,  and  trial  to  conviction,  under  the  laws 
of  the  State,  of  the  editor  or  publisher  "of  a  certain  paper 
called  <  The  Liberator,'  published  in  the  town  of  Boston  and 
State  of  Massachusetts." 

But  neither  the  doubts  of  friends,  the  condemnation  of  the 
North,  nor  the  threats  and  offered  rewards  of  the  South,  moved 
Mr.  Garrison  from  his  purpose.  He  bade  defiance  to  his  per 
secutors,  and  avowed  his  readiness  to  die,  if  need  be.  He 
stood,  he  says,  "  like  the  oak,  like  the  Alps,  —  unshaken, 
storm-proof.  Opposition  and  abuse  and  slander  and  preju 
dice  and  judicial  tyranny  add  to  the  flame  of  my  zeal.  I  am 
not  discouraged ;  I  am  not  dismayed  ;  but  bolder  and  more 
confident  than  ever." 

Nor  is  there  any  doubt  that  .his  voice  and  pen  were  among 
the  most  potent  influences  that  produced  the  antislavery  revi 
val  of  that  day.  Antislavery  societies  were  formed,  antislav 
ery  presses  were  established,  and  antislavery  lectures  abounded. 
Nine  years  after  the  establishment  of  "  The  Liberator  "  there 
were  nearly  two  thousand  antislavery  societies,  with  a  mem- 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  187 

bership  of  some  two  hundred  thousand.  This  result,  however, 
was  not  secured  without  agitation,  controversy,  and  strife. 
Nor  were  these  all  outside  of  the  societies.  Within  them 
were  discords  and  dissensions,  growing  out  of  the  nature 
of  their  work  and  the  character  of  their  members.  For 
the  latter  were  generally,  and  almost  of  necessity,  persons  of 
positive  convictions  and  self-assertion,  engaged  in  a  work  of 
appalling  magnitude  and  beset  with  unanticipated  difficulties. 
Especially  true  was  this  of  those  who  gathered  around  Mr. 
Garrison,  adopted  and  defended  his  views,  and  recognized  him 
as  their  leader.  Embracing  many  men,  and  especially  women, 
of  talent,  culture,  and  eloquence,  they  were  a  small,  compact, 
aggressive,  and  somewhat  destructive  body,  who,  with  marked 
characteristics  and  occasional  idiosnycrasies,  yet  seemed  to  be 
swayed  by  a  common  impulse,  and  to  be  committed  not  only 
to  a  common  object,  but  to  the  pursuit  of  that  object  by  modes 
peculiarly  their  own. 

In  pursuance  of  their  object,  they  avowed  the  purpose  of 
granting  quarter  to  nothing  which,  in  their  apprehension, 
interposed  itself  between  them  and  that  object.  Not  finding 
that  hearty  co-operation  and  ready  acquiescence  in  their  utter 
ances  and  modes  of  action  in  church  or  state  which  they 
desired  or  hoped  for,  but  oftener  hostility  and  persecution, 
they  soon  arrayed  themselves  in  antagonism  to  the  leading 
influences  of  both.  And  so,  singularly  enough,  they  presented 
what  appeared  to  their  countrymen  the  practical  solecism  of 
endeavoring  to  reform  the  government  by  renouncing  all  con 
nection  with  it ;  of  seeking  to  remove  a  political  evil  by  refus 
ing  all  association  with  political  parties,  by  whose  action  alone 
that  evil  could  be  reached  ;  of  depending  alone  on  moral  sua 
sion,  and  an  appeal  to  the  consciences  of  the  people,  and  yet 
coming  out  of  all  the  religious  associations  and  assemblies  of 
the  land.  This  arraying  themselves  against  the  patriotism, 
the  partisanship,  and  the  religious  sentiment  of  the  great  body 
of  the  people  prevented  harmonious  co-operation,  and  rendered 
inevitable,  sooner  or  later,  a  disruption  of  the  national  society. 
In  that  separation,  which  took  place  in  1840,  but  a  small  part 
remained  with  Mr.  Garrison, — probably  not  more  than  one 


188        RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

fifth  of  the  members  of  the  antislavery  societies  then  exist 
ing  ;  and  these  were  confined  mainly  to  New  England,  and 
mostly  to  Eastern  Massachusetts.  Nor  did  their  numbers 
increase  during  the  conflicts  of  the  subsequent  twenty  years. 
Indeed,  it  is  doubtful  whether,  in  1860,  when  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
elected  by  a  vote  of  nearly  two  millions,  on  a  clearly  defined 
and  distinct  issue  with  the  Slave  Power,  there  were  more 
Abolitionists  of  that  school  than  there  were  twenty  years 
before,  when  the  American  Antislavery  Society  was  rent  in 
twain.  During  all  this  period,  however,  they  acted,  as  they 
professed,  "  without  concealment  and  without  compromise." 
Whatever  may  be  the  estimate  of  the  weight  of  their  influence 
on  public  opinion,  none  will  ever  doubt  the  sincerity  of  their 
convictions,  the  purity  of  their  motives,  the  boldness  of  their 
utterances,  or  the  inflexibility  of  their  purposes. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

THE  VIRGINIA   CONSTITUTIONAL   CONVENTION.  —  SOUTHAMPTON  IN 
SURRECTION.  —  SLAVERY  DEBATE  IN  THE  LEGISLATURE. 

Constitutional  Convention.  —  Struggle  between  Eastern  and  Western  Virginia. 
—  Slaveholding  Interest  Successful.  —  Southampton  Insurrection.  —  Nat 
Turner.  —  Message  of  Governor  Floyd.  —  Kesolution  of  Mr.  Summers.  —  De 
bate  on  Slavery.  —  Proposition  of  Thomas  Jefferson  Randolph.  —  Mr.  Goode's 
Motion  to  discharge  the  Committee.  —  Report  of  the  Committee.  —  Mr.  Pres 
ton's  Amendment.  —  Speeches  of  Mr.  Moore,  Mr.  Boiling,  Mr.  Randolph, 
Mr.  Rives,  Mr.  Brodnax,  Mr.  Daniel,  Mr.  Faulkner,  Mr.  Knox,  Mr.  Sum 
mers,  Mr.  McDowell.  — The  "  Richmond  Inquirer."  —  Reaction  in  the  State. 

THE  utterances  of  slaveholders  in  the  Virginia  convention  of 
1829-30,  and  in  her  legislature  of  1831-32,  were  suggestive 
of  far  more  than  their  immediate  intent.  They  revealed,  in 
language  as  strong  and  unequivocal  as  any  ever  used  by  Aboli 
tionists,  so  freely  charged  with  extravagance  arid  exaggeration, 
the  evils  and  appalling  dangers  of  slavery.  They  revealed, 
too,  both  the  sense  of  insecurity  and  alarm  which  pervaded 
society,  and  the  desperation  of  a  growing  class  determined  to 
cling  to  the  evil,  however  great,  and  to  risk  the  consequences, 
however  serious. 

The  convention  was  called  for  the  revision  of  its  constitution. 
Ex-Presidents  Madison  and  Monroe,  Chief  Justice  Marshall, 
and  several  eminent  statesmen,  were  members.  For  years 
much  dissatisfaction  had  existed  in  the  western  section  of 
the  State,  where  there  were  comparatively  few  slaves,  with 
the  basis  of  representation,  which  gave  political  power  to  a 
minority  of  the  white  people  in  the  tide-water  and  eastern  por 
tions  of  the  State.  This  minority,  largely  composed  of  slave 
holders,  was  strong  in  talent,  in  wealth,  and  in  social  position. 

The  members  from  Western  and  Middle  Virginia  proposed 
to  base  representation  on  white  population  alone.  The  com- 


190        RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

mittee  on  the  legislative  department  of  the  constitution,  by  a 
vote  of  thirteen  to  eleven,  reported  in  favor  of  the  white  basis 
for  the  House,  but  by  an  equally  divided  vote  rejected  the  prop 
osition  to  adopt  it  for  the  Senate.  An  earnest  and  excited 
struggle  commenced,  and  continued  through  several  weeks. 
A  proposition  to  base  the  Senate  on  federal  numbers  and  the 
House  on  white  population  was  also  defeated  by  a  similar  vote. 
An  arbitrary  apportionment  was  finally  adopted,  and  the  repre 
sentatives  of  the  "  old  families,"  who  were  the  special  guar 
dians  of  the  siaveholding  section,  triumphed  over  those  who 
had,  at  the  opening  of  the  convention,  cherished  high  hopes  of 
wresting  political  power  from  them.  And  so  here,  as  was  gen 
erally  the  case  everywhere,  in  the  conflicts  between  the  sup 
porters  and  opposers  of  the  Slave  Power,  the  latter  were  over 
borne. 

In  the  month  of  August,  1831,  the  people  of  Virginia  were 
startled  by  the  Southampton  insurrection.  Its  leader  was  Nat 
Turner,  then  a  slave  about  thirty-one  years  of  age.  From 
childhood  he  seemed  to  have  been  the  victim  of  superstition 
and  fanaticism,  and  to  have  grown  up  in  the  belief  that  he  was 
destined  to  accomplish  some  great  purpose.  Austere  in  life 
and  manners,  he  impressed  upon  his  personal  associates  the 
conviction  that  he  was  a  prophet  of  the  Lord,  and  that  he  was 
guided  by  Divine  inspiration.  In  his  confession  he  said:  "On 
the  12th  of  May,  1828,  I  heard  a  loud  noise  in  the  heavens, 
and  the  spirit  instantly  appeared  to  me  and  said,  '  The  ser 
pent  was  loosened,  and  Christ  had  laid  down  the  yoke  he  had 
borne  for  tlie  sins  of  men,  and  that  I  should  take  it  on  and 
fight  against  the  serpent,  for  the  time  was  fast  approaching 
when  the  first  should  be  last  and  the  last  should  be  first,  and 
by  signs  in  the  heavens  that  it  would  make  known  to  me  when 
I  should  commence  the  great  work,  and  until  the  first  sign 
should  appear  I  should  conceal  it  from  the  knowledge  of  men.' ' 
On  the  appearance  of  the  sign,  which  was  to  be  the  eclipse  of 
the  sun  in  February,  1831,  he  was  to  arise  and  slay  his  enemies. 
He  states  that  immediately  on  the  appearance  of  that  sign  the 
seal  was  removed  from  his  lips,  and  he  communicated  the  great 
work  he  had  to  do  to  his  associates.  The  4th  of  July  was  fixed 


THE   SOUTHAMPTON  INSURRECTION.  191 

upon  as  the  day  for  rising,  but  his  mind  was  so  affected  by  the 
magnitude  of  the  undertaking  that  he  fell  sick,  and  that  time 
passed.  "  The  sign  appeared  again,"  he  said,  and  he  then  de 
termined  to  wait  no  longer.  The  insurrection  commenced  on 
the  night  of  the  21st  of  August  by  the  massacre  of  his  master, 
Mr.  Joseph  Travis,  and  his  family.  He  and  his  associates  had 
agreed  that  until  they  could  arm  and  equip  themselves  and 
could  raise  a  sufficient  force,  neither  age  nor  sex  should  be 
spared ;  and  this  policy  was  invariably  pursued.  They  pro 
ceeded  from  house  to  house,  massacring  the  whites,  until  their 
numbers  were  increased  to  more  than  fifty,  —  all  mounted  and 
armed  with  guns  and  swords,  axes  and  clubs.  But  the  country 
was  soon  aroused,  and  they  were  met,  fired  upon,  and  dis 
persed.  Deserted  by  his  associates,  Turner,  after  concealing 
himself  for  several  weeks,  was  discovered,  tried,  and  executed 
in  November  of  that  year.  In  this  insurrection  sixty-one  white 
persons  and  more  than  a  hundred  slaves  were  killed  or  exe 
cuted.  The  excitement  in  Virginia  and  throughout  the  South 
was  intense.  The  "  Richmond  Whig  "  declared  that  another 
such  insurrection  would  be  followed  by  putting  the  whole  black 
race  to  the  sword.  Portions  of  the  community  were  thrown 
into  panic,  and  the  thrilling  cry  of  the  affrighted  people,  in 
peril  of  their  lives  and  imploring  protection,  day  after  day  filled 
the  ears  of  the  governor  of  that  great  commonwealth. 

The  legislature  met  early  in  December.  In  his  message 
Governor  Floyd  called  its  attention  to  the  Southampton  insur 
rection.  He  stated  that  a  "  banditti  of  slaves,"  not  exceeding 
at  any  time  seventy  in  number,  rose  upon  the  defenceless  in 
habitants,  and,  under  circumstances  of  the  most  "  shocking 
and  horrid  barbarity,"  put  to  death  sixty-one  persons.  He 
commended  the  promptitude  and  despatch  with  which  the  offi 
cers  and  militia  had  performed  their  duty,  as  also  the  cheerful 
alacrity  of  the  people.  He  commended,  too,  the  officers,  sol 
diers,  and  sailors  of  the  United  States  army  and  navy  for  their 
prompt  and  efficient  action.  Asserting  that  there  was  reason 
to  believe  that  the  spirit  of  insurrection  was  not  confined  to 
the  slaves,  he  declared  that  there  was  too  much  cause  for  the 
suspicion  that  the  plans  of  "  treason,  insurrection,  and  mur- 


192        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

der "  had  been  "  designed  and  matured  by  unrestrained 
fanatics  in  some  of  the  neighboring  States."  Asserting,  too, 
that  the  most  active  among  themselves  in  stirring  up  "  the  spirit 
of  revolt "  were  the  negro  preachers,  he  expressed  the  con 
viction  that  the  public  good  required  that  they  should  be 
silenced.  He  urged  a  revision  of  the  laws  intended  to  pre 
serve  "  in  due  subordination  "  the  slave  population,  and  sug 
gested  the  idea  that  it  would  be  indispensably  necessary  to  re 
move  the  free  people  of  color  from  the  State. 

So  much  of  the  governor's  message  as  related  to  the  insur 
rection  was  referred  to  a  committee.  Mr.  Summers  of  Western 
Virginia  submitted  a  resolution,  calling  on  the  governor  to  lay 
before  the  legislature  a  copy  of  the  correspondence  between 
Governor  Monroe  and  President  Jefferson,  in  1801,  upon  the 
subject  of  obtaining  lands  beyond  the  limits  of  the  State,  to 
which  free  persons  of  color  might  be  removed.  Petitions  were 
presented,  signed  by  slaveholders,  praying  the,  legislature  for 
the  removal  of  free  negroes.  Among  these  petitions  was  one 
from  the  Society  of  Friends,  suggesting  that  legislative  meas 
ures  might  be  taken  for  the  emancipation  of  slaves,  and  for 
their  removal  from  the  State.  On  the  question  of  the  refer 
ence  of  this  petition  to  a  special  committee,  a  debate  of  great  ear 
nestness  and  significance  arose.  Mr.  Roane,  who  had  presented 
it,  made  a  temperate  argument  in  favor  of  its  reception  and 
reference.  Mr.  Moore  said  that  the  free  negro  population  was 
a  nuisance  which  the  interests  of  the  people  required  to  be  re 
moved.  But  there  was,  he  said,  "  another  and  greater  nuisance, 
—  slavery  itself."  He  avowed  that  he  was  not  one  of  those 
fanatics,  always  crying  out  against  the  horrors  of  slavery,  but 
he  thought  it  should  now  be  considered  by  the  legislature 
and  by  the  people  themselves.  The  reference  of  the  petition 
to  the  committee  was  advocated  by  Mr.  Brodnax,  its  chairman. 
The  hearing  of  the  petition,  he  said,  did  not  imply  that  any  legis 
lation  would  be  recommended  for  the  emancipation  of  slaves ; 
but  he  was  opposed  to  allowing  the  nations  to  believe  that  "  the 
State  of  Virginia  was  not  willing  even  to  think  of  an  ultimate 
delivery  from  the  greatest  curse  that  God  in  his  wrath  ever 
inflicted  upon  a  people."  He  emphatically  declared  that  when 


SLAVERY  DEBATE  IN   THE   VIRGINIA  LEGISLATURE.          193 

men  were  forced  to  lock  their  doors  at  night,  and  open  them  in 
the  morning  to  receive  their  servants  to  light  their  fires,  with 
pistols  in  their  hands,  surely  some  measures  to  restore  confi 
dence  and  security  were  necessary.  Under  such  circumstances 
"  life  became  a  burden,  and  it  were  better  to  seek  a  home  in 
some  distant  realm,  and  leave  the  graves  of  their  fathers,  than 
endure  so  precarious  a  condition."  "  Is  there  a  man,"  he 
asked,  "  in  Virginia  who  does  not  lament  that  there  ever  was 
a  slave  in  the  State  ?  And  is  there  a  man  who  considers  the 
decay  of  our  prosperity,  and  the  retrograde  movement  of  this 
once  flourishing  commonwealth,  who  does  not  attribute  this 
to  the  pregnant  cause  of  slavery  ?  " 

Mr.  Boiling  avowed  himself  in  favor  of  considering  the  peti 
tion.  "  We  talk  of  freedom,"  he  said,  "  while  slavery  exists 
in  the  land,  and  speak  with  horror  of  the  tyranny  of  the  Turk  ; 
but  we  foster  an  evil  which  the  best  interests  of  the  commun 
ity  require  should  be  removed,  which  was  deemed  the  bane  of 
our  happiness  by  the  fathers  of  the  commonwealth,  and  to 
which  we  trace  the  cause  of  the  depression  of  Eastern  Virginia. 
Every  intelligent  individual  admits  that  slavery  is  the  most 
pernicious  of  all  the  evils  with  which  the  body  politic  can  be 
afflicted.  By  none  is  this  position  denied,  if  we  except  the 
erratic  John  Randolph,  who  goes  about  like  a  troubled  spirit, 
malignantly  assaulting  every  individual  against  whom  his 
spleen  is  excited." 

Mr.  Chandler  expressed  his  desire  for  the  removal  of  the 
free  blacks,  and  for  a  plan  that  might  remove,  at  some  future 
time,  "  the  greatest  curse  that  has  ever  been  inflicted  upon 
this  State."  He  declared  that  he  should  look  upon  the  day  on 
which  "  the  deliverance  of  the  Commonwealth  from  the  bur 
dens  of  slavery  should  be  consummated  as  the  most  glorious 
in  the  annals  of  Virginia."  William  C.  Rives  was  opposed 
to  any  plan  of  emancipation,  because  its  agitation  at  that 
time  would  be  "  injudicious,  if  not  perilous."  The  rejection 
of  this  petition  of  the  Quakers  was  moved  by  Mr.  Goode ; 
but  his  motion  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  more  than  three  to 
one,  and  its  reference  to  the  special  committee  was  carried. 

A  day  or  two   afterwards   Mr.  Goode,  who   assumed   the 

25 


194       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

championship  of  the  slaveholders,  rose  and  asked  the  select 
committee  what  progress  had  been  made,  and  when  it  intended 
to  report.  To  this  question  the  chairman  replied  that  it  was 
vigorously  pursuing  its  investigation,  and  he  hoped  to  report 
in  a  few  days.  Mr.  Goode  then  said  that  he  believed  the 
course  that  had  been  taken  would  be  productive  of  danger 
ous  consequences  ;  and  he  gave  notice  that  he  should,  the  next 
day,  submit  a  resolution  that  would  save  the  committee  from 
further  investigation.  In  accordance  with  this  notice  he  in 
troduced  a  resolution  to  discharge  the  committee,  declaring 
that  it  was  not  expedient  to  legislate  further  on  the  subject 
of  emancipation. 

Thomas  Jefferson  Randolph,  a  grandson  of  Mr.  Jefferson, 
moved  to  amend  the  resolution  so  as  to  instruct  the  committee 
to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  submitting  to  a  vote  of  the 
qualified  electors  the  proposition  of  providing  by  law  that  the 
children  of  female  slaves,  born  after  the  4th  of  July,  1840, 
should  become  the  property  of  the  commonwealth,  the  males 
at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  the  females  at  the  age  of  eighteen  ; 
then  to  be  hired  out  until  a  sufficient  sum  be  realized  to  defray 
the  expense  of  their  removal  beyond  the  limits  of  the  United 
States.  But  even  this  moderate  proposition  was  resisted  by 
Mr.  Goode,  who  declared  that  the  continuance  of  the  discus 
sion  would  prolong  the  anxieties  of  the  citizens,  and  excite 
hopes  in  the  colored  population  which  must  be  disappointed. 
While  Mr.  Goode's  resolution  to  discharge  the  committee  was 
under  consideration,  the  committee  reported  that  it  was  inexpe 
dient  for  the  legislature  to  make  any  enactments  for  the  aboli 
tion  of  slavery,  and  the  question  of  its  disposition  was  at  once 
made  the  subject  of  discussion.  Mr.  Newton  was  in  favor  of 
laying  the  report  of  the  committee  on  the  table,  and  of  taking 
up  Mr.  Randolph's  amendment,  which  he  denounced  as  a  mon 
strous  proposition  that  struck  at  the  foundation  of  republican 
government.  The  motion  to  lay  upon  the  table  was  then  re 
jected,  and  Mr.  Preston,  afterward  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
under  President  Taylor,  moved,  as  an  amendment  to  the 
report,  to  strike  out  the  word  "  inexpedient "  and  insert  the 
word  "  expedient." 


SLAVERY   DEBATE  IN  THE   VIRGINIA  LEGISLATURE.          195 

Then  commenced  an  elaborate  and  exhaustive  debate,  which 
continued  without  limitation  or  restriction  for  several  weeks. 
It  was  one  of  the  ablest,  most  eloquent,  and  brilliant  de 
bates  that  ever  took  place  in  the  legislature  of  any  of  the 
States.  Most  of  those  who  participated  in  it  were  young  and 
rising  men,  who  afterward  achieved  high  positions  and  com 
manding  influence.  Many  of  them  then  clearly  saw  and  vivid 
ly  set  forth  the  terrible  evils  which  slavery  had  wrought,  and 
the  appalling  difficulties  and  dangers  that  beset  them.  Yet, 
clearly  as  they  saw  them  and  vividly  as  they  portrayed  them, 
they  not  only  failed  to  comprehend  their  full  import,  but  they 
entirely  failed  in  marking  out  the  way  of  escape,  and  in  devis 
ing  the  means  for  their  extrication. 

Mr.  Moore  said  that  the  apostle  might  as  well  have  closed 
his  eyes  upon  the  light  which  shone  from  heaven,  or  have 
turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  voice  from  on  high,  as  for  the  legis 
lature  to  stifle  the  spirit  of  inquiry  as  to  the  best  means  of 
freeing  Yirginia  from  the  curse  of  slavery,  — "  the  severest 
calamity  that  has  ever  befallen  any  portion  of  the  human  race." 
Among  the  many  evils  he  pointed  out  and  forcibly  portrayed 
was  "  its  irresistible  tendency  to  undermine  and  destroy  every 
thing  like  virtue  and  morality  in  the  community."  Assert 
ing  that  ignorance  was  the  inseparable  companion  of  slavery, 
he  declared  it  to  be  the  purpose  of  the  master  to  see  that 
"  the  ignorance  of  his  slaves  shall  be  as  profound  as  pos 
sible."  Maintaining  that  this  ignorance  rendered  the  slave 
incapable  of  deciding  between  right  and  wrong,  he  affirmed 
that  he  was  never  actuated  by  those  inspiring  and  enno 
bling  motives  that  prompt  the  free  to  praiseworthy  deeds  ; 
and  that  he  was  habituated  from  his  infancy  to  sacrifice 
truth  without  remorse,  to  escape  the  punishment  too  apt  to 
be  inflicted.  He  averred  that  the  impulses  of  passion  were 
never  restrained  in  him  by  the  dread  of  infamy  and  dis 
grace.  Referring  to  the  declining  prosperity  of  Yirginia,  he 
said  that  the  State  below  tide-water  wore  "  an  appearance  of 
almost  utter  desolation,  distressing  to  the  beholder"  ;  that "  tall 
and  thick  forests  of  pine,  everywhere  to  be  seen  encroaching 
upon  the  once  cultivated  fields,  cast  a  deep  gloom  over  the 


196       K18E  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

land,  which  looked  as  if  nature  mourned  over  the  misfortunes 
of  man."  Maintaining  that  it  was  due  to  their  character  as  a 
magnanimous  people  not  to  withhold  from  their  negroes  rights 
they  had  declared  to  be  the  common  property  of  the  human 
race,  he  would  make  a  determined  effort  to  free  their  Common 
wealth  of  this  element  of  disgrace  and  danger.  He  declared 
that  it  mattered  not  whether  oppression  was  exercised  over 
few  individuals  or  over  millions  ;  that  "  the  autocrat  of  Russia 
was  no  more  deserving  of  the  name  of  tyrant  for  having  sent 
his  hordes  to  plant  the  blood-stained  banner  of  despotism  upon 
the  walls  of  Warsaw,  amid  the  ruins  of  all  that  was  dear 
to  freemen,  than  was  the  petty  tyrant  in  any  other  quarter 
of  the  globe,  who  is  equally  regardless  of  the  acknowledged 
rights  of  man." 

Mr.  Boiling  declared  that  the  advocates  of  slavery,  while 
"  drunk  with  prejudice,"  claimed  to  be  sober,  and  sought  to 
crown  all  its  opponents  with  opprobrious  epithets.  He  averred 
that  slavery  was  "  a  great  and  appalling  evil,  a  blighting  and 
withering  curse  upon  this  land."  "  Many  a  brave  man,"  he 
said,  "  who  would  face  without  shrinking  the  terrible  array  of 
battle,  and  with  a  fearless  heart  spur  upon  the  cannon's 
mouth,  has  felt  his  blood  in  icy  currents  flow  back  upon  its 
source,  from  the  chilling,  the  fearful  thought,  that  when  he 
should  return  to  the  home  he  had  left  he  should  be  greeted, 
not  with  the  smile  of  joy  and  of  welcome,  but  by  the  mangled 
corses  of  his  butchered  family."  He  described  the  desolation 
that  "  met  and  fatigued  the  eye  "  in  portions  of  Virginia  lying 
below  the  mountains,  and  affirmed  that  there  was  no  point  to 
which  they  could  turn  where  the  great  evil  did  not  stare  them 
in  the  face  ;  and  that  it  was  a  bone  of  contention  between  East 
ern  and  Western  Virginia,  between  the  slaveholding  and  non- 
slaveholding  States. 

Briefly  supporting  his  amendment,  Mr.  Randolph  maintained 
that  it  was  the  dark,  the  appalling,  and  the  despairing  future 
that  had  awakened  the  public  mind,  rather  than  the  South 
ampton  insurrection.  He  asked  whether  silence  would  restore 
the  death-like  apathy  of  the  negro's  mind.  It  might  be  wise 
to  let  it  sleep  in  its  torpor  ;  but  "  has  not,"  he  asked,  "  its  dark 


SLAVERY  DEBATE   IN  THE   VIRGINIA  LEGISLATURE.          197 

chaos  been  illumined  ?  Does  it  not  move  and  feel  and  think  ? 
The  hour  of  the  eradication  of  the  evil  is  advancing, —  it  must 
come.  Whether  it  is  effected  by  the  energy  of  our  own  minds, 
or  by  the  bloody  scenes  of  Southampton  and  San  Domingo,  is 
a  tale  for  future  history." 

Speaking  for  slavery,  Mr.  Gholson  deprecated  discussion, 
deeming  it  fraught  with  incalculable  mischief.  "  We,"  he  said, 
"  debate  it,  the  press  debates  it,  everybody  debates  it ;  and  all 
this  is  done  as  if  the  slaves  around  us  had  neither  eyes  nor  ears." 
Maintaining,  however,  that  discussion  could  now  no  longer  be 
avoided,  he  called  upon  gentlemen  who  regarded  Mr.  Ran 
dolph's  proposition  as  "  monstrous  and  unconstitutional "  to 
"  meet  it  publicly,  —  publicly  to  discuss  it,  publicly  to  expose 
it,  and  publicly  to  reject  it."  He  thought  his  constituents 
would  be  filled  with  wonder  at  the  light  which  illumined  the 
present  age,  and  with  mortification  at  their  present  ignorance. 
They  really  believe,  he  said,  that  slaves  are  property,  and  that 
they  belong  to  their  masters.  This  opinion  had  been  im 
pressed  upon  their  minds  at  quite  a  tender  age  ;  and  in  spite 
of  the  new  lights,  they  believed  that  "  by  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  and  the  laws  of  Virginia  slaves  were  prop 
erty,  which  dying  men  might  bequeath,  and  living  men  might 
convey  by  deeds."  His  constituents  had  always  considered 
that  "  the  owner  of  land  had  a  reasonable  right  to  its  annual 
profits,  the  owner  of  orchards  to  their  annual  fruits,  the 
owner  of  brood  mares  to  their  products,  and  the  owner  of 
female  slaves  to  their  increase." 

He  said  that  the  wretched  and  misguided  fanatic  who  led 
the  Southampton  massacre  thought  he  saw  the  light  of  the 
age,  but  all  his  light  and  all  his  inspiration  were  shrouded  in 
the  darkness  of  the  grave.  He  said  that  northern  lights  had 
appeared,  and  incendiary  publications  had  cast  their  illuminat 
ing  rays  among  them,  to  conduct  the  slave  to  massacre  and 
bloodshed.  He  thought  gentlemen  who  had  drawn  gloomy 
pictures  of  the  poverty  and  thriftless  agriculture  of  Virginia 
were  better  poets  than  planters,  and  that  there  was  more  happi 
ness  and  less  misery  among  the  slaves  of  Virginia  than  among 
the  laboring  poor  of  Europe  or  the  servants  of  the  North.  He 


198       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN   AMERICA. 

thought  other  Southern  States  would  not  applaud  the  rash  and 
precipitate  conduct  of  Virginia.  They  were  engaged,  he  said, 
in  a  rash  and  intemperate  debate.  "  With  the  indiscretion  of 
children  we  are  playing  with  torches  and  firebrands,  either 
regardless  or  forgetful  that  magazines  are  under  and  around 

us Should  it  be  the  pleasure  of  this  body  in  an  evil 

hour  to  connect  with  its  history  the  adoption  of  this  unjust, 
partial,  tyrannical,  and  monstrous  measure,  permit  me  in  the 
presence  of  my  country  to  offer  a  prayer  to  Heaven,  that  the 
recording  angel,  as  he  writes  it  down,  may  drop  a  tear  upon  it 
and  blot  it  out  forever." 

Mr.  Rives  said  that  he  saw  no  occasion  for  excitement,  and 
trusted  as  the  debate  progressed  there  would  be  found  nothing 
to  arouse  or  alarm.  He  thought  the  Southampton  insurrection 
had  brought  nothing  new  to  the  minds  of  the  people  of  Virginia, 
as  it  was  but  an  earlier  and  more  melancholy  realization  of 
their  apprehensions.  While  he  was  not  filled  with  apprehen 
sions  and  alarms,  he  thought  it  was  the  part  of  wisdom  to  look 
ahead,  and  the  duty  of  public  men  to  scent  out  and  ward  off 
danger,  however  remote. 

Mr.  Brodnax  addressed  the  House  at  great  length.  He 
thought  the  spirit  of  the  age  would  not  tolerate  suppression, 
that  slavery  was  the  subject  of  grave  consideration  in  all  parts 
of  the  country,  and  that  "  the  people  all  over  the  world  are 
thinking  about  it,  speaking  about  it,  and  writing  about  it." 
Although  he  maintained  that  slavery  was  "  a  mildew  which 
has  blighted  every  region  it  has  touched,  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world,"  he  made  the  strange  and  preposterous  affirma 
tion  that  he  was  opposed  to  any  system  of  emancipation 
which  interfered  with  private  property,  affected  its  value,  or 
took  a  single  slave  from  his  master  without  his  consent.  De 
nouncing  the  moderate  plan  of  emancipation  proposed  by  Mr. 
Randolph  as  monstrous  in  its  features  and  principles,  he  de 
clared  that  owners  of  that  kind  of  property  would  not  and 
ought  not  to  submit  to  such  a  law  ;  that  they  would  hurl  from 
their  stations  their  unfaithful  representatives,  who  had  con 
tributed  to  bring  such  injustice  upon  them  ;  and  if  their  suc 
cessors  could  effect  no  repeal,  the  people  would  burst  into 


SLAVERY  DEBATE   IN   THE   VIRGINIA  LEGISLATURE.          199 

atoms  the  bonds  that  united  Virginia  in  one  political  com 
munity. 

"  In  listening,"  said  Mr.  Powell,  "to  an  unrestrained  dis 
cussion  upon  a  subject  on  which  we  are  accustomed  to  breathe 
our  opinions  with  the  lowest  whisper,  I  feel  that  I  am  in  a 
dream.  But  a  short  time  ago  the  bare  utterance  of  senti 
ments  now  listened  to  with  the  most  profound  attention 
would  have  been  responded  to  by  a  simultaneous  murmur  of 
disapprobation."  He  warned  the  House  that  when  the  slaves 
should  have  become  more  enlightened  and  the  love  of  freedom 
should  have  sprung  up  in  their  bosoms,  that  the  tragic  scenes 
of  Southampton  might  become  a  common  occurrence,  and  in 
those  convulsions  and  struggles  their  history  might  be  written 
in  characters  of  blood.  Mr.  Daniel  remarked  that  it  was  an 
age  of  change  and  revolution,  the  fruitful  period  of  conven 
tions  and  speeches,  but  he  had  never  expected  to  see  the  legis 
lature  of  Virginia  gravely  debating  the  question  whether  or 
not  the  slaves  they  had  inherited  from  their  fathers  were 
property. 

Mr.  Faulkner,  Minister  to  France  at  the  opening  of  the 
rebellion,  addressed  the  House  in  favor  of  the  gradual  extinc 
tion  of  slavery.  He  said  he  was  no  enthusiast,  no  fanatic  ;  he 
went  for  no  agrarian  laws,  no  confiscation  of  property,  no  wild 
and  chimerical  schemes  of  abolition.  But  he  went  for  such 
practical  measures,  sanctioned  by  the  most  illustrious  names 
that  adorned  the  annals  of  Virginia,  as  would  rescue  the 
State  from  the  appalling  catastrophe  which  in  time  must 
befall  it. 

He  referred  to  the  statements  made  by  those  opposed  to 
emancipation,  calculated  to  prejudice  the  public  mind.  "  Our 
propositions,"  he  said,  "  have  been  denounced  as  monstrous, 
novel,  violent,  and  extraordinary.  We  have  been  represented 
as  sounding  a  war-cry  of  insurrection,  and  as  endangering  the 
tranquillity  of  this  State  by  rash  and  violent  schemes  of  legisla 
tion."  He  gloried  in  the  privilege  of  participating  in  proceed 
ings  tending  to  help  forward  a  revolution  so  grand  and  patri 
otic  in  its  results.  "  If  slavery,"  he  said,  "  can  be  eradicated, 
in  God's  name  let  us  get  rid  of  it.  If  it  cannot,  let  that  melan- 


200        EISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

choly  fact  be  distinctly  ascertained,  and  let  those  who,  we  have 
been  told,  are  now  awaiting  with  painful  solicitude  the  result 
of  your  determinations,  pack  up  their  household  goods  and 
find  among  the  luxuriant  forests  and  prairies  of  the  West  that 
security  and  repose  which  their  native  land  does  not  afford." 

He  referred  to  a  remark  of  a  sagacious  politician  on  the 
evening  when  the  first  debate  sprung  up  on  the  presentation  of 
the  Quaker  petition.  "  Why  do  you  gentlemen  from  the  West," 
he  asked,  "  suffer  yourselves  to  be  fanned  into  such  a  tempest 
of  passion  when  the  subject  of  slavery  is  introduced  into  the 
House  ?  The  time  will  come,  and  before  long,  when  there  will 
be  no  diversity  of  feeling  or  interest  among  us  on  that  point, 
when  we  shall  all  equally  represent  a  slaveholding  inter 
est."  "  It  is,"  said  Mr.  Faulkner,  "  to  arrest  any  such  possi 
ble  consequences  to  my  country  that  I  —  one  of  the  humblest, 
but  not  the  least  determined,  of  the  Western  delegation — have 
raised  my  voice  for  emancipation.  Tax  our  lands,  vilify  our 
country,  carry  the  sword  of  extermination  through  our  now 
defenceless  villages,  but  spare  us,  I  implore  you,  —  spare  us 
the  curse  of  slavery,  that  bitterest  drop  from  the  chalice  of 
the  destroying  angel." 

"  Slavery,"  he  said,  "  it  is  admitted,  is  an  evil ;  it  is  an 
institution  which  presses  heavily  against  the  best  interests  of 
the  State.  It  banishes  free  white  labor ;  it  exterminates  the 
mechanic,  the  artisan,  the  manufacturer.  It  deprives  them 
of  occupation ;  it  converts  the  energy  of  a  community  into 
indolence,  its  power  into  imbecility,  its  efficiency  into  weak 
ness.  Sir,  being  thus  injurious,  have  we  not  a  right  to  demand 
its  extermination  ?  Shall  society  suffer  that  the  landholder 
may  continue  to  gather  his  virgintial  crop  of  human  flesh  ? 
What  is  his  mere  pecuniary  claim  compared  with  the  great 
interests  of  the  common  weal  ?  Must  the  country  languish, 
droop,  die,  that  the  slaveholder  may  flourish  ?  Shall  all 
interests  be  subservient  to  one,  all  rights  subordinate  to 
slaveholding  ?  Has  not  the  mechanic,  have  not  the  middle 
classes  their  rights,  —  rights  incompatible  with  the  existence 
of  slavery  ?  " 

He  expressed  his  gratification  that  no  gentleman  had  arisen 


SLAVERY   DEBATE   IN   THE   VIRGINIA   LEGISLATURE.  201 

in  that  hall  as  the  avowed  advocate  of  slavery,  and  declared 
that  the  day  had  gone  by  when  such  a  voice  could  be  listened 
to  with  patience,  or  even  forbearance.  He  regretted,  too,  that 
any  had  entered  the  lists  of  discussion  as  its  apologists,  except 
on  the  ground  of  uncontrollable  necessity.  If  there  was  any 
one  who  believed  in  the  harmless  character  of  slavery,  he 
requested  him  to  compare  the  condition  of  that  commonwealth, 
barren,  desolate,  and  seared  as  it  were  by  the  avenging  hand 
of  Heaven,  with  the  descriptions  of  the  same  country  by 
those  who  first  broke  its  virgin  soil.  To  what  is  this  ascrib- 
able  ?  Alone  to  the  withering  and  blasting  effects  of  slav 
ery.  He  avowed  himself  opposed  to  any  plan  of  emancipa 
tion  which  was  not  mild,  gradual,  and  prospective  in  its  opera 
tion.  Delicate  and  difficult  as  was  the  subject,  he  would 
still  preach  it.  "  Our  security,"  he  added,  "  requires  it.  In 
the  language  of  the  wise  and  prophetic  Jefferson,  you  must 
approach  it,  you  must  hear  it,  you  must  adopt  some  plan  of 
emancipation,  or  worse  will  follow." 

Mr.  Marshall  proposed  such  an  amendment  to  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States  as  would  give  the  power  to  Congress 
to  appropriate  money  to  aid  the  States.  He  would,  by  timely 
precautions,  endeavor  to  "  avert  that  portentous  cloud  which 
Iready  blackens  the  horizon,  and  which  threatens  at  some 
iture  day  to  pour  its  fury  on  our  heads."  He  thought  the 
abolition  of  slavery  was  not  desirable  on  account  of  the  condi- 
ion  of  the  slave  ;  "  but  it  is  ruinous  to  the  whites, — retards 
improvement,  roots  out  an  industrious  population,  banishes  the 
yeomanry  of  the  country,  deprives  the  spinner,  the  weaver, 
the  smith,  the  shoemaker,  the  carpenter,  of  employment  and 
support.  This  evil  admits  of  no  remedy.  It  is  increasing, 
and  will  continue  to  increase,  until  the  whole  State  will  be 
inundated  with  one  black  wave  covering  her  whole  extent, 
with  a  few  white  faces  here  and  there  floating  on  the  sur 
face." 

Mr.  Roane  owned  slaves,  and  valued  them  as  highly  as  Mr, 
Gholson  valued  his  women  and  children,  which  he  had  asserted 
were  as  much  his  property  as  his  brood  mares.  '  He  declared 
that  he  would  never  interfere  with  the  just  rights  of  property, 


202        EISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN   AMERICA. 

but  lie  was  in  favor  of  action,  because  delay  brought  danger, 
and  he  would  not  "  halt  and  boggle  and  falter  "  while  the 
country  was  "  groaning  and  travailing  and  suffocating  under 
the  heaviest  and  blackest  curse  that  ever  afflicted  freemen." 

Mr.  Wood  was  opposed  to  touching  the  question  of  abolition, 
and  he  saw  nothing  in  the  Southampton  insurrection  calculated 
to  inspire  alarm  or  create  distrust.  He  said  if  Virginia  had 
been  settled  by  the  Puritans  her  condition  might  have  been 
better  without  slavery,  but  the  early  settlers  of  Virginia  were 
English  gentlemen,  who  came  there  not  to  devote  themselves 
to  lives  of  labor  and  self-denial,  but  for  the  purpose  of  enjoy 
ing  the  luxuries  of  the  table,  furnished  alike  by  the  forests  and 
the  waters.  "  The  people  of  Virginia,"  he  said,  "  did  not  vex 
themselves  with  the  harassing  cares  of  commerce,  nor  were 
they  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  labor.  They  devoted  them 
selves  to  social  intercourse,  to  the  cultivation  of  elegant  litera 
ture  and  fine  oratory.  In  these  they  excelled,  not  only  any 
race  in  this  Union,  but  perhaps  in  the  world." 

These  words  of  the  boastful  Virginian  breathe  a  spirit  and 
convey  a  sentiment  which  were  not  only  common  at  the  South, 
but  more  or  less  admitted  and  acquiesced  in  at  the  North.  The 
chivalry,  generosity,  refinement,  and  culture  of  Southerners 
were  always  claimed  and  often  urged  as  at  least  some  compen 
sation  for  their  servile  system,  and  for  their  other  less  worthy 
qualities.  But  the  facts  never  justified  such  pretensions.  In 
literature  their  authors  were  few,  and  at  best  of  inferior  rank  ; 
while  the  meagreness  of  their  contributions  to  science,  letters, 
and  the  arts  has  been  generally  conceded.  From  their  pre 
tensions  to  superior  generosity  and  refinement  the  war  tore  off 
the  mask,  and  revealed  the  fact  that  all  such  assumptions  were 
shams,  or,  at  best,  most  glaringly  superficial. 

Mr.  Preston,  who  had  moved  to  amend  the  resolution  of  the 
committee  so  that  it  would  declare  that  it  was  "  expedient  "  to 
act,  spoke  eloquently  in  support  of  the  position  he  had  as 
sumed.  He  admitted  that  for  two  hundred  years  the  thoughts, 
words,  and  acts  of  Virginia  had  been  suppressed,  that  their 
mouths  had  been  closed,  and  that  all  investigations  in  relation 
to  slavery  had  been  stifled.  He  thanked  God  that  the  spell 


SLAVEKY   DEBATE   IN   THE   VIRGINIA   LEGISLATURE.          203 

was  broken,  that  the  scales  had  fallen  from  their  eyes,  and  that 
he  was  at  liberty  to  speak  every  opinion  he  entertained.  He 
admitted  that  no  emancipation  could  take  place  then,  or  in  the 
future,  without  an  infringement  upon  the  rights  of  property, 
if  those  rights  were,  as  was  assumed,  "  superior  to  all  law,  and 
above  all  necessity."  He  said  unhesitatingly  that  if  the 
slaves  were  white  men  he  should  rejoice  in  a  revolution,  as  it 
was  their  color  and  difference  of  race  which  made  such  an  idea 
appalling.  Referring  to  the  declaration  of  Mr.  Gholson  that 
much  of  the  wealth  of  Eastern  Virginia  was  in  the  increase  of 
their  slaves,  he  exclaimed  :  "  In  the  name  of  God,  has  it  come 
to  this  ?  Does  the  wealth  and  the  beauty  and  the  chivalry 
of  Virginia  derive  its  support  and  owe  its  existence  to  the  in 
crease  of  slaves  ?  " 

The  policy  of  emancipation  was  denounced  by  Mr.  Knox, 
and  he  declared  that  it  was  susceptible  of  demonstration,  that 
to  slavery,  as  it  existed  in  Virginia,  they  might  "  trace  the  high 
and  elevated  character  which  she  has  heretofore  sustained  "  ; 
and  he  expressed  the  opinion  that  "  its  continued  existence  is 
indispensably  requisite,  in  order  to  preserve  the  forms  of- a  re 
publican  government." 

Mr.  Summers  of  Western  Virginia  made  a  very  able  speech 
against  slavery  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  He  thought,  if  that 
section  of  Virginia  were  a  separate  and  independent  State,  she 
would  annihilate  slavery  at  a  blow.  "  We  do  not,"  he  said, 
"  desire  that  the  hardy  and  independent  tenantry  of  our  coun 
try  should  be  made  to  give  way  to  those  who  have  no  other 
rule  than  to  work  as  little  and  waste  as  much  as  they  can, 
whose  only  impulse  is  fear,  and  whose  only  interest  is  to  avoid 
the  punishment  of  their  employers.  We  cannot  desire  to  see 
our  mountains  blackened  with  the  slave,  or  that  the  fresh  grass 
of  our  valley  should  wither  beneath  his  tread."  He  would  not 
advert  to  the  great  principles  of  eternal  justice,  that  regarded 
with  equal  beneficence  all  persons,  without  distinction  of  color 
or  condition  ;  but  he  wished  to  better  their  own  condition, 
"  to  arrest  the  desolating  scourge  of  our  country,  to  save  from 
after  ages  the  accumulated  ills  of  a  then  hopeless  and  reme 
diless  disease."  He  maintained  that  men,  to  remain  slaves, 


204       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

must  remain  ignorant ;  that  necessity  had  placed  on  the  stat 
ute-books  of  Virginia  "  laws  to  close  every  avenue  of  knowl 
edge  to  the  wretched  negro,  to  extinguish  that  little  spark  that 
glimmers  in  his  bosom,  and  which  ages  of  degradation  have 
not  wholly  destroyed."  The  antiquary  in  his  researches,  he 
feared,  would  not  understand  the  necessity  which  justified  them 
"  in  attempting  to  annihilate  the  mind  of  a  portion  of  our  race, 
and  to  withdraw  from  them  the  knowledge  of  their  own  im 
mortality  and  destiny  beyond  the  grave.  The  love  of  lib 
erty  could  not  be  eradicated  by  oppression.  It  was  a  scintil 
lation  struck  from  the  eternal  rock  of  being,  and  could  be  ex 
tinguished  only  in  the  tomb."  He  closed  with  expressing  the 
hope  that  by  emancipation  they  should  save  their  posterity  from 
the  wretched  inheritance  and  calamity  of  slavery,  receive  the 
smile  of  Heaven  and  the  blessing  of  their  children's  children, 
and  that  after  time  would  trace  the  origin  of  American  abolition 
to  that  debate. 

Mr.  Burr  denied  the  sinfulness  of  slavery ;  said  that  there 
were  more  than  forty  millions  of  slaves  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Christian  era,  and  that  Christ  saw  them  in  their  wretched 
ness,  and,  although  he  came  into  the  world  to  rebuke  sin,  he 
did  not  condemn  slaveholding.  He  reminded  the  representa 
tives  of  Western  Virginia  that  the  dark  wave  of  slavery  which 
haunted  their  imaginations  had  been  rolling  for  centuries 
against  the  mountains,  and  yet  had  "  only  cast  a  little  spray 
beyo'nd.  The  foot  of  the  negro  delights  not  in  the  dew  of  the 
mountain  grass.  He  is  the  child  of  the  sandy  desert.  The 
burning  sun  gives  him  life  and  vigor,  and  his  step  is  most 
joyous  on  the  arid  plains." 

Of  this  system,  thus  declared  not  to  be  "  sinful,"  Mr.  Berry 
said  that  it  was  a  cancer  on  the  body  politic,  as  certain,  steady, 
and  fatal  in  its  progress  as  any  cancer  on  the  physical  system, 
Of  the  slaves  he  said  that  they  had  as  far  as  possible  closed 
"  every  avenue  by  which  light  might  enter  their  minds,"  and 
that  they  had  to  go  only  one  step  farther  "  to  extinguish  the 
capacity  to  see  the  light,"  to  reduce  them  to  the  level  of  the 
beasts  of  the  field ;  and,  he  added,  "  I  am  not  certain  that  we 
would  not  do  it  if  we  could  find  out  the  necessary  process,  and 


SLAVEEY   DEBATE   IN   THE   VIKGINIA   LEGISLATUEE.  205 

that  under  the  plea  of  necessity."  He  predicted  that  the 
slaves  would  yet  assert  their  liberty,  and  that  "  a  death-strug 
gle  must  come  between  the  two  classes,  in  which  one  or  the 
other  will  be  extinguished  forever."  This  "  death-struggle," 
of  which  the  eloquent  Virginian  spoke,  was  his  form  of  charac 
terizing  the  "  irrepressible  conflict."  It  did  come  in  less  than 
one  generation,  though  not  in  the  form  here  shadowed  forth. 
In  it,  however,  the  slave  system,  and  not  one  of  the  contestant 
classes,  went  down. 

But  the  most  eloquent  and  effective  speech  of  this  great  de 
bate  was  made  by  James  McDowell,  afterward  governor  of  the 
State  and  a  representative  in  Congress.  It  was  a  masterly 
portrayal  of  the  ruin  and  demoralization  wrought  by  slavery 
in  his  native  State.  Its  wonderful  and  almost  magical  effect 
upon  the  convention  is  a  matter  of  tradition  in  Virginia  to  this 
day.  In  describing  the  panic  and  terror  wrought  by  the  South 
ampton  insurrection,  and  in  reply  to  a  member  who  had  char 
acterized  it  as  a  petty  affair,  he  declared  that  it  drove  families 
from  their  homes,  assembled  women  and  children  in  crowds,  in 
every  condition  of  weakness  and  infirmity,  and  every  suffering 
that  want  and  terror  could  inflict,  to  escape  the  terrible  dread 
of  domestic  assassination.  "  Was  that,"  he  asked,  "  a  '  petty 
affair,'  which  erected  a  peaceful  and  confiding  portion  of  the 
State  into  a  military  camp  ;  which  outlawed  from  pity  the  un 
fortunate  beings  whose  brothers  had  offended ;  which  barred 
every  door,  penetrated  every  bosom  with  fear  or  suspicion ; 
which  so  banished  every  sense  of  security  from  every  man's 
dwelling,  that,  let  but  a  hoof  or  horn  break  upon  the  silence 
of  the  night,  and  an  aching  throb  would  be  driven  to  the  heart  ? 
The  husband  would  look  to  his  weapon,  and  the  mother  would 
shudder,  and  weep  upon  her  cradle  !  Was  it  the  fear  of  Nat 
Turner  and  his  deluded,  drunken  handful  of  followers,  which 
produced  such  effects  ?  Was  it  this  that  induced  distant  coun 
ties,  where  the  very  name  of  Southampton  was  strange,  to  arm 
and  equip  for  a  struggle  ?  No,  sir,  it  was  the  suspicion  eter 
nally  attached  to  the  slave  himself,  —  a  suspicion  that  a  Nat 
Turner  might  be  in  every  family,  that  the  same  bloody  deed 
might  be  acted  over  at  any  time  and  in  any  place,  that  the 


206       RISE   AND   FALL    OF   THE    SLAVE   POWER   IN   AMERICA. 

materials  for  it  were  spread  through  the  land,  and  were  always 
ready  for  a  like  explosion." 

Not  only  is  there  the  testimony  of  the  great  debate,  but  the 
press  of  the  State  was  equally  pronounced  in  its  assertion  of 
the  evils  and  dangers  of  their  system  of  slavery.  The  "  Rich 
mond  Inquirer,"  the  leading  paper  of  the  State  and  of  the 
whole  South,  said  on  the  7th  of  January,  1832 :  "  It  is  proba 
ble,  from  what  we  hear,  that  the  committee  on  the  colored  popu 
lation  will  report  some  plan  for  getting  rid  of  the  free  people 
of  color.  But  is  that  all  that  can  be  done?  Are  we  to  forever 
suffer  the  greatest  evil  that  can  scourge  our  land,  not  only  to 
remain,  but  to  increase  in  its  dimensions  ?  '  We  may  shut  our 
eyes  and  avert  our  faces  if  we  will,'  writes  an  eloquent  South- 
Carolinian,  returning  from  the  North  a  few  weeks  ago, i  but 
then  it  is  the  dark  and  growing  evil  at  our  doors  ;  and  meet 
the  question  we  must  at  no  distant  day.  God  only  knows  what 
it  is  the  part  of  wise  men  to  do  on  this  momentous  and  appall 
ing  subject.  But  something  ought  to  be  done.  Means,  sure 
but  gradual,  systematic  but  discreet,  ought  to  be  adopted  for 
reducing  this  mass  of  evil  which  is  pressing  upon  the  South, 
and  which  will  press  upon  her  the  more  heavily  the  longer  it 
is  put  off.  We  ought  not  to  shut  our  eyes  nor  avert  our  faces. 
And  although  we  speak  almost  without  hope  that  the  commit 
tee  or  the  legislature  will  do  anything  at  the  present  session  to 
meet  the  question,  yet  we  say  now,  in  the  utmost  sincerity  of 
our  hearts,  that  our  wisest  men  cannot  give  too  much  of  their 
attention  to  this  subject,  nor  can  they  give  it  too  soon.' ' 

Seldom,  if  ever,  have  the  evils  of  slavery  been  more  graphi 
cally,  not  to  say  terrifically,  portrayed,  than  in  this  remark 
able  debate  and  discussion.  These  men  spoke  and  wrote  of 
what  they  knew.  They  described  dangers  and  difficulties  not 
at  a  distance,  but  at  home,  in  which  they  were  involved,  and 
before  which  they  trembled.  None  can  read  their  words,  even 
at  this  day,  without  feelings  of  sympathy  and  pity  at  their  help 
less  and  almost  hopeless  condition.  For  through  the  whole 
debate,  even  in  the  remarks  of  the  most  earnest  and  advanced, 
there  was  manifested  an  inability  to  grapple  successfully  with 
a  system,  not  only  enshrined  in  their  laws,  but  inwrought  into 
their  whole  social  life. 


SLAVERY   DEBATE   IN   THE   VIRGINIA  LEGISLATURE.          207 

This  movement,  however,  though  begun  under  auspices  so 
favorable  and  betokening  success,  and  though  thus  ably  sus 
tained  in  the  halls  of  debate  and  by  the  press,  came  to  nothing. 
Looking  to  ultimate  emancipation  and  expatriation,  however 
remote  and  gradual,  it  alarmed  the  slaveholding  aristocracy 
which  had  so  long  ruled  Virginia,  and  which  at  once  took  the 
alarm.  Discussion,  sternly  frowned  upon,  ceased.  Most  of 
the  men,  prominent  in  this  debate,  were  either  placed  under 
the  ban  of  the  Slave  Power,  or  were  compelled  to  placate  it 
by  succumbing  to  its  behests,  disowning  their  own  words,  and 
becoming  the  active  agents  in  defending  what  they  once  so 
severely  condemned. 

Where,  it  may  be  asked,  in  the  fiercest  invectives,  in  the 
most  impassioned  appeals  and  warnings,  or  in  the  wildest 
ravings  of  any  class  of  Abolitionists,  can  there  be  found  any 
arraignment  of  the  system  of  slavery  more  fearful,  any  con 
fessions  more  damaging,  or  any  condemnation  more  crushing, 
than  can  be  gathered  from  the  words  of  this  debate,  carried 
on  by  Southern  men  on  Southern  soil  ?  And  where  can  be 
found  more  mournful  evidence,  plentiful  as  it  is,  of  the  terri 
ble  power  embodied  in  the  slave  system,  which  could  convert, 
as  it  soon  did,  such  men,  with  talents  and  position  so  com 
manding,  and  with  such  admissions  and  confessions  on  their 
lips,  into  strenuous  advocates  and  sturdy  defenders  of  what 
they  knew  to  be  so  full  of  guilt  and  harm  to  the  individual, 
—  of  detriment  and  danger  to  the  State  ? 


CHAPTER    XY. 

THE  FORMATION  AND   PURPOSES   OF  THE  AMERICAN  COLONIZATION 

SOCIETY. 

Its  Inconsistencies.  —  Views  of  Dr.  Hopkins.  —  Mr.  Jefferson's  Proposition.  — 
Kesolutions  of  the  Virginia  Legislature.  —  Judge  Tucker's  Plans  of  Emancipa 
tion.  —  Mercer's  Resolutions.  —  Meetings  of  the  Society.  —  Its  Constitution 
and  Officers.  —  Its  Purpose.  —  Equivocal  Position.  —  Declarations  of  Mr.  Clay. 
—  Avowals  of  its  Advocates.  —  Views  of  the  "  African  Repository."  —  Black 
Laws.  —  Compulsory  Colonization.  —  Action  of  Maryland  Legislature.  —  Ac 
tion  of  the  Free  People  of  Color.  —  Views  of  the  National  Conventions  of 
Free  Colored  Men.  —  Declaration  of  Mr.  "Webster.  —  Mr.  Garrison's  Mission 
to  England.  —  Eliot  Cresson.  —  Protest  of  the  British  Abolitionists.  —  Address 
of  Mr.  Garrison.  —  Hold  of  the  Colonizationists  upon  the  Country.  —  Their 
Prescriptive  Course.  —  Encouragement  to  Mobs. 

THE  American  Colonization  Society  was  organized  in  the 
year  1816,  in  the  city  of  Washington.  Auxiliary  societies 
were  soon  formed  in  most  of  the  States.  This  association, 
with  its  affiliated  organizations,  contributed  in  no  small  degree 
to  influence  the  opinions  and  actions  of  men,  and  to  intensify 
the  irrepressible  conflict  of  the  last  half-century.  In  its  origi 
nal  formation  and  subsequent  progress,  in  its  avowals,  argu 
ments,  and  acts,  it  was  always  singularly  inconsistent  and 
illogical.  It  manifestly  yielded  and  pandered  to  the  wicked 
prejudice  against  race  and  color ;  and  yet  it  called  upon 
churches  and  Christians  to  assist  in  sustaining  it  as  an  essen 
tial  part  of  the  missionary  enterprise.  It  cruelly  aspersed  and 
defamed  the  free  people  of  color  ;  and  yet  insisted  that  they 
were  the  preordained  instruments  of  Heaven  for  the  civiliza 
tion  of  Africa.  It  evinced  the  most  undisguised  hostility  to 
Abolition  and  Abolitionists  ;  and  yet  it  persistently  pressed  its 
claims  on  the  friends  of  the  slave.  While  it  embraced  many 
wise  and  good  men,  actuated  by  philanthropic  and  Christian 
principles,  its  history  compels  the  conviction  that,  unwittingly 


THE  AMEKICAN  COLONIZATION   SOCIETY.  209 

or  from  design,  its  influence  was  largely  instrumental  in  pro 
ducing  that  sad  demoralization  of  the  nation  which  rendered 
possible  the  subsequent  aggressions  and  triumphs  of  the  Slave 
Power. 

How  to  suppress  the  slave-trade,  how  to  abolish  slavery,  and 
what  disposition  should  be  made  of  free  people  of  color,  were 
questions  that  early  occupied  the  minds  of  leading  men  both 
North  and  South.  Dr.  Hopkins,  the  ablest  champion  of  the 
colored  race  in  his  day,  was  in  favor  of  the  extinction  of  the 
slave-trade  ;  of  "  averting  the  Divine  judgments,"  and  obtain 
ing  "  the  smile  of  Heaven "  by  delivering  the  country  from 
"  the  sin  and  calamity  of  slavery  "  ;  and  also  of  providing  for 
the  education  of  colored  children  in  useful  learning,  that  they 
might  be  raised  to  an  acknowledged  equality  with  wh;.te  peo 
ple.  Deeply  concerned  for  the  highest  welfare  of  the  colored 
race,  and  for  the  advancement  of  civilization  and  Christianity, 
he  conceived  and  suggested  the  idea,  even  before  the  Revo 
lution,  of  African  colonization.  In  his  address  on  the  slave- 
trade  and  the  slavery  of  the  Africans  before  the  Providence 
Antislavery  Society,  in  1793,  he  more  fully  developed  the  idea 
of  a  general  movement  for  colonizing  such  colored  persons  in 
Africa  as  might  be  desirous  of  going  thither  ;  in  order  to 
"  maintain  the  practice  of  Christianity  in  the  sight  of  their 
now  heathen  brethren,  endeavor  to  instruct  and  civilize  them, 
and  spread  the  knowledge  of  the  gospel  among  them."  In  an 
appendix  to  this  powerful  address,  he  expressed  his  confidence 
that  if  a  well-digested  plan  could  be  laid  before  the  public,  it 
might  be  carried  into  effect.  He  referred  with  commendation 
to  the  previous  action  of  Massachusetts  in  resolving  that, 
"  when  a  place  can  be  found  in  Africa  where  the  blacks  of  that 
State  may  settle  to  their  advantage,  they  would  furnish  them 
with  shipping  and  provisions  sufficient  to  transport  them  there, 
and  arms  sufficient  to  defend  them,  and  farming  utensils  suffi 
cient  to  cultivate  the  land." 

During  the  Revolution  Mr.  Jefferson  proposed  to  incorpo 
rate  into  the  revised  code  of  Virginia  a  plan  for  colonizing  free 
persons  of  color.  At  that  time  these  were  regarded  as  a 
"  lower  caste,"  and,  in  the  South  at  least,  as  "  a  disturbing 

27 


210       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

element  to  the  peace  of  society  and  dangerous  to  the  interests 
of  slavery."  Mr.  Jefferson  and  other  more  advanced  South 
ern  men  were  in  favor  of  general  emancipation  with  coloniza 
tion.  The  idea  of  colonization,  too,  was  entertained  by  an 
entirely  different  class,  —  by  those  who  wished  to  be  rid  of 
the  presence  and  example  of  free  negroes,  but  who  were  op 
posed  to  emancipation.  This  feeling  was  greatly  stimulated 
and  increased  by  the  discovery,  in  1800,  of  an  alleged  conspir 
acy  of  the  negroes,  in  the  country  around  Richmond,  to  seize 
the  magazine,  the  mills,  and  bridge  across  the  James  River, 
take  possession  of  the  city,  and  issue  a  proclamation  inviting 
the  blacks  to  rally  to  their  standard.  But  the  scheme  failed, 
and  several  of  the  leaders  were  tried  and  executed.  The  feel 
ings  and  fears,  however,  excited  by  it,  were  manifested  at  the 
next  meeting  of  the  legislature.  The  governor  was  requested 
to  enter  into  correspondence  with  the  President  relative  to  the 
purchase  of  land  out  of  the  limits  of  that  State,  "  where  per 
sons  obnoxious  to  the  laws  and  dangerous  to  the  peace  of 
society  may  be  removed."  At  the  following  session  the  pro 
ject  of  obtaining  lands  beyond  the  limits  of  the  State  was 
distinctly  declared  to  be  for  the  purpose  of  securing  a  place  to 
which  "  free  negroes  and  such  as  may  be  emancipated  may  be 
sent." 

As  no  action  was  taken  by  the  general  government,  the 
legislature  of  Virginia,  in  1805,  instructed  members  of  Con 
gress  from  that  State  to  secure  a  cession  of  territory  in 
the  new  Louisiana  purchase  for  the  purposes  of  colonization. 
This  action  of  several  successive  legislatures  of  Virginia  was 
taken  in  secret  session,  revealing  the  sense  of  insecurity  that 
prompted  it.  As  no  territory  for  this  purpose  had  been  se 
cured  by  the  efforts  of  the  legislature,  a  law  was  enacted  in 
1806,  that  slaves  thereafter  manumitted  should  leave  the  State 
within  one  year,  or  be  again  reduced  to  slavery.  This  action 
of  four  legislatures  clearly  revealed  the  feelings  and  views 
that  then  pervaded  that  State.  The  same  was  indicated  by 
the  plan  of  emancipation  proposed  by  Judge  Tucker,  one  of 
her  most  learned  and  distinguished  jurists.  In  his  plan,  by 
which  all  females  born  after  a  fixed  period  should  be  free,  he 


THE   AMERICAN   COLONIZATION  SOCIETY.  211 

provided  that  no  free  black  should  hold  office,  possess  real 
estate,  keep  arms,  be  a  witness  against  white  men,  or  maintain 
a  suit  at  law.  He  gave  as  a  reason  for  these  stern  and  inhu 
man  provisions,  by  which  the  ordinary  privileges  of  freemen 
would  be  withheld  from  them,  that  he  wished  "  to  render  it 
their  inclination  and  their  interest  to  seek  those  privileges  in 
some  other  climate." 

In  1816  Charles  Fenton  Mercer  introduced  a  resolution  into 
the  legislature,  which  was  nearly  unanimously  adopted,  asking 
the  aid  of  Congress  to  procure  in  Africa,  or  elsewhere  beyond 
the  limits  of  the  United  States,  a  territory  "  as  an  asylum  for 
such  persons  of  color  as  are  now  free,  or  may  desire  the  same, 
and  for  those  who  may  be  hereafter  emancipated  within  this 
commonwealth."  It  was  afterward  stated  by  Mr.  Mercer  that 
his  resolution  was  introduced  prior,  but  with  a  view,  to  the 
formation  of  a  colonization  society.  It  was  stated,  too,  in  a 
published  account  of  the  formation  of  the  American  Coloniza 
tion  Society,  that  the  meeting  for  that  purpose  was  called  by 
those  who  believed  the  Virginia  legislature  had  entered  upon 
the  work  with  a  spirit  and  determination  to  prosecute  it  with 
vigor,  and  who  also  desired  to  secure  the  "  aid  "  of  the  general 
government.  These  facts  justify  the  claims  vauntingly  put 
forth  in  the  Virginia  Colonization  Society,  in  1836,  that  "  the 
plan  of  colonizing  the  free  blacks,  and  such  as  might  be  made 
free,  originated  here.  The  principles  of  the  society  were  Vir 
ginia  principles."  While,  however,  it  was  the  action  of  the 
Virginia  legislature  of  1816  which  inspired  this  movement  for 
the  purposes  avowed,  there  were  many  Northern  advocates  of 
colonization  who  were  actuated  by  other  and  higher  motives. 

In  the  autumn  of  that  year  a  meeting  was  held  in  Princeton, 
New  Jersey,  under  the  lead  of  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  Finley,  who 
took  a  deep  interest  in  the  organization  of  such  a  society,  and 
who  was  long  identified  with  its  operations.  Indeed,  this  gen 
tleman  seems  to  have  been  the  active  agent  in  the  movement 
which  resulted  in  its  formation.  He  visited  Washington  early 
in  December,  and  was  chiefly  instrumental  in  calling  the 
meeting  which  assembled  on  the  21st  of  that  month,  in  that 
city,  to  consider  the  propriety  and  practicability  of  colonizing 


212       RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

free  people  of  color,  and  of  forming  an  association  for  that 
purpose.  Henry  Clay  presided,  spoke  of  the  condition  of  the 
free  people  of  color,  and  pronounced  the  cause  a  noble  one, 
which  proposed  to  "  rid  our  country  of  a  useless  and  perni 
cious,  if  not  a  dangerous,  portion  of  its  population  "  ;  and  con 
templated,  strangely  enough,  with  such  materials  for  factors 
and  agents,  "  the  spreading  of  the  arts  of  civilized  life,  and 
the  possible  redemption  from  ignorance  and  barbarism  of  a 
benighted  quarter  of  the  globe." 

John  Randolph  distinctly  declared  that  this  meeting  did  not 
in  any  wise  affect  the  question  of  negro  slavery  ;  but  "  must 
materially  tend  to  secure  the  property  of  every  master  in  the 
United  States  in  his  slaves."  On  the  28th  another  meeting 
was  held,  and  on  the  first  day  of  the  year  1817  the  society 
was  fully  organized  by  the  choice  of  officers.  Judge  Bushrod 
Washington,  an  associate  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  a 
Virginia  slaveholder,  was  chosen  president ;  twelve  of  its 
seventeen  vice-presidents  were  from  the  South,  and  all,  or 
nearly  all,  of  its  twelve  managers  were  slaveholders.  The  spirit 
of  its  first  president,  if  not  of  the  society  itself,  was  soon 
manifested.  Learning,  in  1821,  that  his  slaves  believed,  inas 
much  as  he  was  the  nephew  of  Washington,  and  president  of 
the  Colonization  Society,  that  he  intended  to  give  them  their 
freedom,  he  called  them  together,  stated  what  he  had  heard, 
and  coolly  informed  them  that  he  had  no  such  intention. 
Shortly  afterward  he  verified  that  cruel  and  wanton  declara 
tion  by  sending  fifty-four  of  them  from  the  very  home  of  the 
Father  of  his  Country  to  the  New  Orleans  slave-market. 

The  constitution  had  no  preamble  setting  forth  the  motive 
and  objects  of  the  organization.  Nor  was  there  anything  in 
the  instrument  itself  indicating  its  purpose,  excepting  the 
second  article,  in  which  it  was  stated  that  its  attention  was 
"to  be  exclusively  directed"  to  colonizing  free  people  of  color. 
This  omission  of  all  assigned  motives  indicated  its  equivocal 
and  double-faced  policy,  which  ever  seemed  to  be  to  secure  at 
one  and  the  same  time  the  co-operation  of  both  the  friends 
and  foes  of  the  colored  race,  —  of  those  who  aided  it  because 
they  hoped  thus  to  lessen  the  evils  of  slavery,  and  of  those 


THE   AMERICAN   COLONIZATION   SOCIETY.  213 

who  hoped  that  the  removal  of  the  free  would  strengthen  the 
fetters  of  the  bond,  —  of  those  who  saw  in  it  a  providential 
means  of  sending  the  gospel  to  Africa,  and  of  those  who 
thought  of  that  gospel  only  to  hate  and  oppose  it. 

The  general  position  of  the  American  Colonization  Society 
may  be  seen,  too,  in  the  avowed  sentiments  and  feelings  of  its 
leading  members,  advocates,  and  presses  toward  the  free  peo 
ple  of  color.  Not  only  were  they  wanting  in  expressions  of 
sympathy  and  words  of  encouragement  and  hope,  but  lan 
guage  highly  depreciative,  if  not  defamatory,  was  employed 
concerning  these  victims  of  an  unfeeling  ostracism  and  tyran 
nous  oppression.  Mr.  Clay  declared :  "  Of  all  classes  of  our 
population,  the  most  vicious  is  that  of  the  free  colored  peo 
ple.  Contaminated  themselves,  they  extend  their  vices  to  all 
around  them.  They  are  the  most  corrupt,  abandoned,  and 
depraved." 

General  Mercer,  who  more  than  any  other  public  man  was 
e  master  spirit  of  the  enterprise,  styled  them  "  a  horde  of 
iserable  people,  the  objects  of  universal  suspicion,  subsisting 
y  plunder."     A  memorial  of  the  Kentucky  Colonization  So- 
iety  to  Congress  thus  characterized  them  :  "  They  are  a  mil- 
ew  on  our  fields,  a  scourge  to  our  backs,  and  a  stain  on  our 
escutcheon."     An  editorial  in  the  "  African  Repository,"  the 
recognized  organ  of  the  society,  represented  them  as  "  igno 
rant,  degraded,  mentally  diseased,  broken-spirited,  and  scarcely 
reached  in  their  debasement  by  the  heavenly  light."     And 
again :  "  They  must  be  forever  debased,  forever  useless,  for 
ever  a  nuisance  from  which  it  were  a  blessing  for  society  to 
be  rid." 

This  cold-blooded  characterization,  too,  was  only  equalled  by 
the  reiterated  assertions,  and  claim  even,  that  there  was  no 
remedy,  no  help,  at  least  in  this  country.  It  was  proclaimed 
that  "  these  prejudices  of  society  "  against  them  were  "  inevi 
table  and  incurable,"  which  "neither  refinement, ' nor  argu 
ment,  nor  education,  nor  religion  itself  can  subdue."  They 
were  considered  as  belonging  to  an  "  inferior  caste,"  as  occu 
pying  a  "  station"  from  which  "  they  can  never  rise,  be  their 
talents,  their  enterprise,  their  virtues  what  they  may.  They 


214       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN   AMERICA. 

constitute  a  class  by  themselves,  out  of  which  no  individual 
can  be  elevated  and  below  which  none  can  be  depressed." 

To  these  views  of  the  character  of  the  free  people  of  color 
and  their  remediless  condition  should  be  added  the  avowed 
reasons  for  seeking  their  expatriation.  The  real  intent  and 
animus  of  the  movement  were  never  in  the  interest  of  freedom, 
or  but  exceptionally  in  that  of  the  free  people  of  color.  Its 
real,  its  avowed  aim  was  to  render  slavery  and  its  supporters 
more  secure  ;  or,  as  Henry  A.  Wise  honestly  expressed  it,  "  the 
great  original  principle  "  was  "  friendship  for  the  slavehold 
ers,"  which,  he  said,  it  must  continue  to  "  maintain."  The 
same  principle  was  clearly  recognized  and  avowed  by  Mr. 
Webster,  in  his  7th  of  March  speech,  in  which,  among  his 
other  overtures  for  Southern  confidence,  he  pledged  his  support 
to  any  proposition  "  or  scheme  of  colonization  "  the  South 
might  see  fit  to  propose,  "  to  relieve  themselves  from  the  bur 
den  of  their  free  colored  population."  Though  many  Northern 
antislavery  men  and  Christians  were  lending  it  their  aid,  for 
the  promised  good  to  Africa  and  the  Africans,  its  leading 
members  and  supporters  were  characterizing  property  in  man 
as  "sacred,"  "  as  inviolable  as  any  other  in  the  country." 
They  said  to  the  slaveholders :  "  We  know  your  rights,  and 
we  respect  them."  They  claimed  Southern  support  on  the 
ground,  as  expressed  by  Randolph  at  its  first  meeting,  that  it 
"  would  prove  one  of  the  greatest  securities  "  to  such  property. 
This  idea  even  the  "  Repository  "  expressed,  again  and  again, 
in  different  forms  and  phrases.  It  declared  that  removing  free 
people  of  color  "  would  contribute  more  effectually  to  the  con 
tinuance  and  strength  "  of  slavery  than  anything  else  ;  "  Avould 
augment  instead  of  diminishing  the  value  of  the  property  left 
behind  "  ;  "  would  secure  slaveholders  and  the  whole  Southern 
country  "  ;  would  render  the  slave  who  remains  in  America 
more  obedient,  more  faithful,  more  honest,  and,  consequently, 
more  useful  to  his  master ;  and  "  would  provide  and  keep  open 
a  drain  for  the  excess  beyond  the  occasion  of  profitable  employ 
ment." 

Corroborative  of  the  same  influence  was  the  ill-disguised  in 
difference,  not  to  say  hostility,  of  its  advocates  to  any  plan  for 


THE   AMERICAN   COLONIZATION   SOCIETY.  215 

the  improvement  and  elevation  of  the  very  class  whose  wretched 
condition  they  so  vividly  depicted.  While  protesting  against 
the  manumission  of  slaves  unless  coupled  with  expatriation, 
calling  abolition  mere  "  enthusiasm,"  an  "  unsubstantial  theory 
of  the  rights  of  man,"  and  abolitionists  "  fanatics,"  they  ex 
pressed  their  sorrow  at  the  "misguided  piety"  which  some 
times  prompted  "  death-bed  "  manumissions,  and  asserted  that 
"  it  would  be  as  humane  to  throw  slaves  from  the  decks  in  the 
middle  passage  as  to  set  them  free  in  this  country."  Not  only 
had  they  no  plans  for  the  amelioration  of  the  free  people  of 
color  themselves,  but  they  heartlessly  pronounced  against  any 
which  might  be  proposed  by  others.  Thus  the  society,  in  an 
elaborate  address  to  the  public,  authoritatively  defined  its  posi 
tion  :  "  The  moral,  intellectual,  and  political  improvement  of 
free  people  of  color  within  the  United  States  are  objects  foreign 
to  the  powers  of  the  society." 

Dr.  Leonard  Bacon,  a  distinguished  clergyman  of  New 
Haven,  an  officer  of  the  society,  thus  gave  his  views  concern 
ing  its  mission :  "  It  is  not  a  missionary  society,  nor  a  society 
for  the  suppression  of  the  slave-trade,  nor  a  society  for  the  im 
provement  of  the  blacks,  nor  a  society  for  the  abolition  of  slav 
ery  ;  it  is  simply  a  society  for  the  establishment  of  a  colony  on 
the  coast  of  Africa."  And  these  are  but  samples  of  the  general 
tone  and  tenor  of  its  writers  and  speakers,  of  the  documents 
and  addresses  that  once  abounded  for  its  advocacy  and 
defence. 

Among  them  the  religious  press  was  largely  represented. 
Thus  a  Southern  paper  declares :  "  If  free  people  of  color  were 
generally  taught  to  read,  it  might  be  an  inducement  for  them  to 
remain  in  this  country.  We  would  offer  them  no  such  induce 
ments."  Nor  were  the  Northern  journals  without  sentiments 
equally  unfeeling.  The  New  Haven  "  Religious  Intelligencer  " 
condemned  any  measures  calculated  to  bind  the  colored  popu 
lation  to  this  country  by  "  seeking  to  raise  them  to  a  level  with 
the  whites,  whether  by  founding  colleges  or  in  any  other  way," 
because  it  would  "  divert  attention  and  counteract  and  thwart 
the  whole  plan  of  colonization." 

Among  the  many  short-comings  of  the  Colonization  Society 


216       RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

was  its  admitted  failure  to  secure  the  confidence  of  the  colored 
people.  Though  it  was  ostensibly  formed  in  their  interest, 
and  was  really  incapable  of  accomplishing  the  objects  of  its 
organization  without  their  voluntary  co-operation  and  willing 
acceptance  of  its  assistance,  it  was  never  regarded  with  favor 
by  them.  On  the  contrary,  they  always  distrusted  its  preten 
sions  and  dreaded  its  influence.  Nor  was  it  strange.  For 
the  more  intelligent  could  not  have  been  unacquainted  with 
something  of  its  history,  and  with  the  open  and  cruel  avowals 
of  its  founders  and  early  advocates  ;  and  all  may  have  known 
that  the  same  men  who  were  its  members  and  defenders  not 
only  oppressed  their  slaves,  but  demanded  and  indorsed  those 
most  cruel  laws  against  free  colored  people  which  not  only  dis 
graced  the  statute-books  of  all  slaveholding  States,  but  sadly 
disfigured  Northern  legislation. 

The  extreme  aversion  of  slaveholders  to  the  presence  of  free 
people  of  color,  and  their  desire  to  be  rid  of  them,  aided  by 
the  general  prejudice  against  color,  provoked  a  vast  amount  of 
hostile  and  wicked  legislation,  both  North  and  South.  The 
"  black  laws  "  of  many  of  the  free  States  were  second  in  dis 
graceful  cruelty  and  injustice  only  to  the  more  summary  and 
sanguinary  slave-codes  of  the  South  itself.  The  admitted  in 
tent  of  such  legislation  in  both  sections  was  to  compel,  in 
reality  if  not  in  form,  these  unfortunate  ones  to  leave  their 
country,  where  their  comfort,  success,  and  security  were  per 
sistently  and  systematically  disregarded,  while  they  were  made 
the  objects  of  provoking  and  painful  social  and  legal  oppres 
sions. 

This  identity  of  interest  and  purpose,  and  at  the  South  of 
constituency  even,  between  the  party  of  slavery  and  the  party 
of  colonization,  not  only  prevented  on  the  part  of  the  latter 
all  sympathy  with  the  victims  of  these  laws,  but  also  all  dis 
countenance  of  the  policy  that  demanded  their  enactment  and 
enforcement.  In  point  of  fact,  the  Colonization  Society  seemed 
rather  to  welcome  such  legislation  as  a  means  of  furthering  its 
purposes  and  making  the  colored  people  willing  to  accept  its 
proffered  aid.  Thus  a  writer  in  the  "  African  Repository  "  ex 
claims  :  "  How  important  that  we  hasten  to  clear  our  land  of 


THE   AMERICAN   COLONIZATION   SOCIETY.  217 

our  black  population !  What  right,  I  demand,  have  the  chil 
dren  of  Africa  to  a  home  in  a  white  man's  country  ?  Let 
Africans  rise  to  empire  ;  but  let  it  be  under  the  shade  of  their 
native  palms.  Let  the  Atlantic  billow  heave  its  high  and 
everlasting  barrier  between  their  country  and  ours."  Even 
the  Massachusetts  Colonization  Society  could  speak  almost 
approvingly  of  the  fact  that  "  the  colored  man's  prospects  of  a 
happy  home  here  are  continually  growing  darker.  The  un 
willingness  to  have  a  large  free  colored  population  is  steadily 
increasing  in  all  the  States  exposed  to  it "  ;  and  it  adds, 
"  such  discouragements  force  them  to  think  of  Liberia." 

In  1831  Maryland,  in  order  that  the  State  might  be  pro 
tected  from  the  alleged  "  evils  "  growing  out  of  the  "  connec 
tion  "  of  her  increasing  free  colored  population  with  the  slaves, 
enacted  some  very  stringent  and  barbarous  laws,  —  one  for 
bidding  manumission  unless  the  slaves  were  sent  away,  —  and 
it  appropriated  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  be  expended 
by  the  Colonization  Society  of  that  State.  At  the  next  an 
nual  meeting  of  the  parent  society  a  resolution  was  passed 
expressing  the  "  highest  gratification  "  at  the  continued  efforts 
of  Maryland,  —  embracing,  of  course,  those  barbarous  laws  in 
regard  to  her  free  colored  population.  "  We  do  not  ask," 
said  a  memorial  of  the  New  York  Colonization  Society  to  the 
legislature,  in  language  it  is  hardly  credible  civilized  and 
Christian  men  could  have  used,  "  that  the  provisions  of  our 
constitution  and  statute-book  should  be  so  modified  as  to 
relieve  and  exalt  the  condition  of  the  colored  people  whilst 
they  remain  with  us.  Let  those  provisions  stand  IN  ALL  THEIR 
RIGOR,  to  work  out  the  ultimate  and  unbounded  good  of  these 
people." 

A  society  with  such  an  origin  and  object,  constituency  and 
avowals,  could  not  escape  the  notice  and  criticism  of  the  free 
colored  people  themselves.  They  seemed  instinctively  to  di 
vine  its  purpose  and  distrust  its  aims  ;  for,  as  early  as  1817, 
they  held  a  meeting  in  the  city  of  Richmond  to  express  their 
opposition  to  the  scheme.  In  the  same  year  a  similar  meeting 
was  held  in  Philadelphia, -in  which  they  denounced  as  "  cruel" 
"  any  measure  or  system  of  measures  having  a  tendency  to 

28 


218       RISE   AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

banish  "  them ;  expressed  their  deep  abhorrence  at  the  stig 
ma  cast  upon  them  as  "  a  dangerous  and  useless  part  of  the 
community " ;  declared  that  they  would  never  voluntarily 
separate  themselves  from  the  slave  population  of  the  country  ; 
that,  "  without  arts,  without  science,  or  a  proper  knowledge  of 
government,  to  cast  into  the  savage  wilds  of  Africa  the  free 
people  of  color  seems  to  us  the  circuitous  route  by  which  they 
must  return  to  perpetual  bondage."  Similar  meetings  were 
held  by  the  free  people  of  color  in  Washington,  Baltimore, 
and  in  all  the  Northern  cities  and  States. 

A  national  convention  of  colored  men  was  held  in  Phila 
delphia  in  1831.  That  convention  embodied  and  expressed 
the  sentiments  of  the  free  people  of  color.  To  the  Coloniza 
tion  Society  it  thus  addressed  itself :  It  would  "  respectfully 
suggest  to  that  august  body  of  talent,  learning,  and  worth 
that,  in  our  humble  opinion,  strengthened,  too,  by  the  opinions 
of  eminent  men  in  this  country  as  well  as  in  Europe,  they  are 
pursuing  the  direct  road  to  perpetuate  slavery,  with  all  its 
unchristian  concomitants,  in  this  boasted  land  of  freedom; 
and,  as  citizens  and  men  whose  best  blood  is  sapped  to  gain 
popularity  for  that  institution,  we  would  in  the  most  feeling 
manner  beg  of  them  to  desist ;  or,  if  we  must  be  sacrificed  to 
their  philanthropy,  we  would  rather  die  at  home.  Many  of 
our  fathers  and  some  of  us  have  fought  and  bled  for  the 
liberty,  independence,  and  peace  which  you  now  enjoy ;  and 
surely  it  would  be  ungenerous  and  unfeeling  in  you  to  deny 
us  a  humble  and  quiet  grave  in  that  country  which  gave 
us  birth."  This  tender  and  touching  appeal  was  the  voice 
of  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  oppressed  and  suffering  men 
and  women,  who,  though  nominally  free,  were  compelled 
to  bear  many  of  the  burdens  of  that  terrible  system  which 
then  held  more  than  two  millions  of  their  race  in  chains. 
The  next  year  they  met  again  in  convention,  and  again  ap 
pealed  to  the  colonizationists  "  to  cease  their  unhallowed  per 
secutions."  They  declared  that  it  was  unnecessary  to  repeat 
their  "  protest  against  that  institution."  "  Our  views  and 
sentiments,"  they  said,  "  have  long  'since  gone  to  the  world, 
—  the  wings  of  the  wind  have  borne  our  disapprobation  to 


THE   AMERICAN  COLONIZATION  SOCIETY. 


219 


that  institution.  Time  itself  cannot  erase  it.  We  have  dated 
our  opposition  from  its  beginning  ;  and  our  views  are  strength 
ened  by  time  and  circumstances,  and  they  hold  the  upper 
most  seat  in  our  affections." 

The  free  colored  people  have  ever  firmly  and  persistently 
continued  to  avow  their  opposition  to  the  society,  and  to  enter 
their  solemn  protest  against  its  policy.  An  association,  so 
curiously  conglomerate,  could  not  continue  harmonious.  Men 
with  such  conflicting  sentiments  could  not  long  see  in  the 
same  agency  a  legitimate  means  of  promoting  purposes  so 
antagonistic.  Though  it  had  a  Northern  face  and  words  for 
freedom,  and  numbered  among  its  advocates  such  men  as  the 
Tappans  and  Gerrit  Smith,  yet  its  Southern  proclivities  and 
purposes  were  so  much  more  prominent  and  pronounced,  that 
men  whose  philanthropy  was  something  more  than  a  name, 
one  after  another,  detected  the  deception  and  disavowed  it. 
Even  Mr.  Webster,  as  early  as  1825,  retired  from  a  meeting 
held  in  Boston  to  organize  an  auxiliary  society,  of  which  he 
was  chairman, —  Lewis  Tappan,  its  secretary,  being  authority 
for  the  statement,  —  with  the  remark :  "  Gentlemen,  I  will 
have  nothing  more  to  do  with  the  matter  ;  for  I  am  satisfied 
it  is  merely  a  plan  of  the  slaveholders  to  get  rid  of  the  free 
negroes." 

The  opposition  of  the  free  negroes,  the  manifest  futility  of 
a  scheme  to  effect  emancipation,  which  had  sent  out  in  the 
first  dozen  years  of  its  history  only  a  single  thousand  colo 
nists,  and  the  avowals  of  its  Southern  advocates  and  presses, 
naturally  excited  the  suspicions  of  the  pious  and  philanthropic, 
who  had  early  and  gladly  welcomed  it  as  an  agency  of  prom 
ised  good,  and  led  them  to  examine  and  finally  discard  its 
pretensions. 

Previous  to  1828,  Arthur  Tappan,  an  eminent  merchant  of 
the  city  of  New  York,  had  generously  contributed  to  its  funds. 
But  he  was  led  to  distrust  its  efficacy  as  an  instrumentality  of 
Christian  benevolence,  because  blacks  were  sent  out  without 
any  reference  to  their  moral  fitness  to  become  pioneers  in  civil 
izing  Africa  ;  because  slaves  were  liberated  on  the  express  con 
dition  that  they  should  go  to  Liberia,  thus  forcing  a  consent 


220        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

that  should  have  been  free  ;  and  because  a  part  of  the  cargoes 
of  the  vessels  sent  were  New  England  rum,  powder,  and  arms. 
As  late,  too,  as  the  4th  of  July,  1829,  William  Lloyd  Garrison 
delivered  an  address  in  Boston,  before  the  Massachusetts  Colo 
nization  Society,  in  which,  however,  he  dwelt  with  much  force 
on  the  woes  and  wrongs  of  the  slave.  In  the  autumn  of  that 
year  he  became  associated  with  Benjamin  Lundy  in  the  publi 
cation  of  the  "  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation,"  in  Balti 
more.  While  in  that  city  he  saw  more  clearly  the  workings 
of  the  colonization  scheme,  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that, 
if  it  were  not  the  intention  of  its  originators,  it  had  neverthe 
less  become  its  practical  result,  "  to  rivet  still  closer  the  fetters 
of  the  slaves  and  deepen  the  prejudices  against  the  free  people 
of  color,"  and  he  became  an  advocate  of  the  doctrine  of  im 
mediate  emancipation.  Returning  to  the  North,  he  became  its 
champion,  and  the  uncompromising  opponent  of  the  Coloniza 
tion  Society.  He  and  others  found  it  difficult,  however,  to 
awaken  in  the  minds  of  the  people  the  same  distrust  which 
had  taken  such  full  possession  of  their  own.  But  through 
their  agency  the  public  mind  was  largely  disabused  of  the 
idea  that  it  was  an  antislavery  instrumentality,  or  that  it 
tended,  in  any  degree,  to  the  elevation  of  the  free  people  of 
color. 

The  agents  of  the  Colonization  Society  had  visited  England, 
and  appealed  for  support  to  the  British  people.  The  Abolition 
ists  of  that  country  had  generally  received,  welcomed,  and  ac 
cepted  their  statements.  Eliot  Cresson  went  there  in  1880, 
and  for  more  than  three  years  pressed  its  claims  upon  the  vet 
eran  Abolitionists,  who  were  then  engaged  in  the  great  work 
of  West  India  emancipation.  After  the  organization  of  the 
New  England  Antislavery  Society,  and  several  of  its  auxilia 
ries,  it  was  deemed  important  to  disabuse  the  British  mind  of 
some  of  these  unfounded  impressions  ;  and  Mr.  Garrison  was 
deputed  to  visit  England  in  the  spring  of  1833  for  that  purpose. 
But  he  went,  in  the  words  of  Samuel  J.  May,  his  early  friend 
and  coadjutor, "  with  the  execrations  of  the  leading  coloniza- 
tionists  and  all  the  proslavery  partisans  on  his  head." 

Cordially  welcomed,  and  burning  with  the  zeal  of  profound 


THE   AMERICAN   COLONIZATION   SOCIETY. 


221 


convictions,  he  was  anxious  to  grapple  without  delay  with  the 
advocates  of  colonization.  He  at  once  challenged  Mr.  Cresson 
to  meet  him  for  public  discussion.  That  champion,  how 
ever,  whose  course  Mr.  Garrison  afterward  characterized  as 
"  marked  with  cunning,  duplicity,  and  cowardice,"  prudently 
declined  the  challenge.  Mr.  Garrison  delivered  several  ad 
dresses,  in  which  he  exposed  the  character  of  the  society  and 
of  its  claims  to  antislavery  support,  in  either  England  or 
America.  Having  faithfully  pointed  out  to  the  leading  Aboli 
tionists  the  purposes  and  tendencies  of  the  society,  he  received, 
a 'few  days  before  his  return,  a  protest,  addressed  to  the  British 
public,  signed  by  Wilberforce,  Macaulay,  Stephen,  Lushing- 
ton,  Buxton,  Cropper,  O'Connell,  and  other  distinguished  anti- 
slavery  men.  While  acknowledging  the  colony  of  Liberia  "  to 
be  in  itself  a  good  thing,"  they  utterly  repudiated  the  princi 
ples  of  the  society,  declared  it  to  be  an  obstacle  to  the  "  de 
struction  of  slavery  throughout  the  world,"  and  pronounced 
"  its  pretexts  to  be  delusion,"  and  its  "  real  effects  dangerous." 
These  eminent  men  averred  that  the  society  took  "  its  root 
from  a  cruel  prejudice  and  alienation  in  the  whites  of  America 
against  the  colored  people,  slave  or  free  "  ;  that  "  it  fosters  and 
increases  a  spirit  of  caste  "  ;  "  widens  the  breach  between  the 
two  races  "  ;  "  exposes  the  colored  people  to  great  practical 
persecutions  "  ;  and  "  is  calculated  to  swallow  up  and  divert 
that  feeling  which  America,  as  a  Christian  and  free  country, 
cannot  but  entertain,  that  slavery  is  alike  incompatible  with 
the  law  of  God  and  the  well-being  of  man." 

In  sending  this  important  document  to  the  press,  the  leading 
signature  to  which  had  been  given  by  the  illustrious  Wilber 
force  a  few  days  before  his  death  —  one  of  the  closing  acts  of 
his  eventful  life, —  Mr.  Garrison  said  :  "  This  protest  will  hang 
a  millstone  about  the  neck  of  the  American  Colonization  So 
ciety  sufficiently  weighty  to  drown  it  in  an  ocean  of  public  in 
dignation."  Nor  did  he  miscalculate.  Though  a  colonization 
society  was  organized  in  England,  it  existed  only  in  name  and 
exerted  but  little  influence.  This  testimony,  too,  of  those 
distinguished  philanthropists,  as  cheering  to  the  Abolitionists 
as  it  was  exasperating  to  the  Colonizationists,  became  a  power- 


222       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

ful  agency  in  dispelling  the  illusion  which  the  latter  had  cast 
over  the  Northern  mind.  Having  aided  in  accomplishing  this 
purpose,  —  by  which,  perhaps,  he  rendered  as  great  and  essen 
tial  a  service  to  the  antislavery  cause  as  by  any  act  of  his  life,  — 
lie  returned  to  the  United  States,  and  issued  an  address  to  the 
friends  of  the  slave,  in  which  he  said :  "  The  great  object  of 
my  mission  —  namely,  the  exposure  of  the  real  character  and 
objects  of  the  American  Colonization  Society  —  has  been  ac 
complished  expeditiously,  comprehensively,  and  effectually." 

Imbittered  by  the  success  which  had  crowned  the  mission 
of  Mr.  Garrison  in  England,  and  by  its  arraignment  and  aban 
donment  by  many  of  its  former  supporters,  the  friends  of  the 
Colonization  Society  more  fiercely  than  ever  denounced  the  doc 
trine  of  immediate  emancipation  and  its  advocates.  Though 
many  good  men,  distinguished  for  their  philanthropy  and  piety, 
were  continually  withdrawing  from  its  support  and  giving  their 
adhesion  to  the  doctrine  of  immediate  emancipation,  the  society 
was  still  strongly  intrenched  in  the  confidence  and  sympathy 
of  the  influential  classes.  Many  of  the  public  men,  like  Mr. 
Clay,  were  earnest  and  eloquent  in  its  defence.  Leaders,  too, 
in  the  churches  and  institutions  of  learning  were  active  in  its 
advocacy  and  support.  Occupying  positions  of  commanding 
influence,  they  were  indignant  at  the  bold  and  uncompromis 
ing  annunciation  of  unpalatable  truths,  and  strove  to  put  under 
the  ban  of  social  and  ecclesiastical  proscription  the  humble  and 
devoted  men  who  were  placing  the  antislavery  cause  on  the 
enduring  basis  of  the  rights  of  human  nature  and  the  laws  of 
God.  This  intolerant  and  prescriptive  action  intensified  the 
public  feeling,  increased  the  popular  excitement,  and  inspired 
many  of  the  lawless  deeds  of  that  day,  which  brought  such 
reproach  upon  free  institutions  and  dishonor  upon  the  country. 
Prominent  men  in  both  church  and  state  consented  to  these 
demonstrations  of  popular  violence.  At  least,  if  they  did  not 
encourage  and  prompt  them,  they  did  not  rebuke  and  oppose 
them. 


CHAPTER    XYI. 

NEW  ENGLAND   AND  NEW  YORK  CITY   ANTISLAVERY  SOCIETIES. 

Conference  at  the  Office  of  Samuel  E.  Sewall.  —  Adjourned  Meeting.  —  Adoption 
of  the  Preamble  and  Constitution  of  the  New  England  Antislavery  Society. 

—  Officers  of  the  Society.  —  Principles  enumerated.  —  Address  to  the  People. 

—  First  Annual  Meeting.  —  Kesolutions.  —  First  Annual  Report.  —  Mr.  Garri 
son's  Resolution  in  Favor  of  a  National  Convention.  —  "Emancipator."  — Great 
Excitement.  —  Public  Meeting.  —  Organization  of  the  New  York  City  Anti- 
slavery  Society.  —  Arthur  Tappan.  —  Lewis  Tappan.  —  William  Goodell.  — 
Joshua  Leavitt.— Colonizationists. — Denunciation  of  the  Abolitionists. — 
Rapid  Increase  of  the  Abolitionists.  —  Publications  of  John  G.  Whittier,  Lydia 
Maria  Child,  Amos  A.  Phelps. 

WHILE  the  doctrine  of  immediate  emancipation,  proclaimed 
with  so  much  earnestness  and  boldness  by  "  The  Liberator," 
startled  and  incensed  the  many,  it  was  welcomed  and  gladly 
accepted  by  a  few.  Adopting  such  sentiments,  the  latter  nat 
urally  looked  to  association  and  co-operative  action.  Accord 
ingly,  on  the  13th  of  November,  1831,  fifteen  persons  met  at 
the  office  of  Samuel  E.  Sewall,  then  a  rising  young  lawyer  of 
Boston,  to  consider  the  expediency  of  forming  an  antislavery 
society.  It  was  the  understanding  that,  if  twelve  persons 
were  found  who  would  agree  on  the  basis  of  immediate  eman 
cipation,  such  a  society  should  be  formed.  As  only  nine  of 
that  number  would  thus  agree  no  action  was  taken. 

On  the  16th  of  December  another  conference  was  held  at 
Mr.  Sewall's  office.  There  were  present  Samuel  E.  Sewall,  Ellis 
Gray  Loring,  David  Lee  Child,  lawyers  of  that  city  ;  William 
Lloyd  Garrison,  editor,  and  Isaac  Knapp,  publisher,  of  "  The 
Liberator "  ;  Oliver  Johnson,  Robert  B.  Hall,  Isaac  Child, 
John  Cutts  Smith,  and  Joshua  Coffin.  Mr.  Child,  Mr.  Sewall, 
Mr.  Garrison,  Mr.  Loring,  and  Mr.  Johnson  were  appointed  a 
committee  to  prepare  a  constitution.  The  meeting  was  then 


224        RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

adjourned  till  the  first  day  of  January,  1832,  at  which  time 
there  was  an  additional  attendance  of  Alonzo  Lewis,  known  as 
the  Lynn  Bard,  William  J.  Snelling,  Dr.  Abner  Phelps,  Rev. 
Elijah  Blan chard,  and  Dr.  Gamaliel  Bradford.  The  commit 
tee  reported  a  preamble  and  constitution.  After  discussion, 
the  constitution  was  adopted,  and  the  preamble  referred  to 
another  committee,  to  report  at  an  adjourned  meeting,  to  be 
held  on  the  6th,  in  the  school-room  under  the  African  Baptist 
Church,  in  Belknap  Street. 

At  that  meeting  the  preamble,  which  was  written  by  Mr. 
Snelling,  was  reported  ;  and,  after  discussion  and  amendment, 
was  adopted.  The  constitution  was  then  signed  by  William 
Lloyd  Garrison,  Oliver  Johnson,  Robert  B.  Hall,  Arnold  Buf- 
fum,  William  J.  Snelling,  John  E.  Fuller,  Moses  Thacher, 
Joshua  Coffin,  Stillman  B.  Newcomb,  Benjamin  C.  Bacon, 
Isaac  Knapp,  and  Henry  K.  Stockton.  There  were  in  the 
conferences  which  preceded  the  formation  of  the  society  differ 
ences  of  opinion  in  regard  to  its  name,  principles,  and  policy. 
David  Lee  Child,  Samuel  E.  Sewall,  and  Ellis  Gray  Loring, 
members  of  the  committee  to  prepare  the  preamble  and  con 
stitution,  at  first  declined  to  identify  themselves  with  the 
movement,  as  they  did  not  fully  concur  in  the  expediency  of 
putting  forth  at  that  time  and  in  that  form  all  the  sentiments 
contained  in  the  preamble.  But  after  a  brief  period  they 
became  members  of  the  society,  and  gave  to  the  antislavery 
cause  the  earnest  and  life-long  devotion  of  their  large  abilities 
and  influence.  Among  the  earliest  to  join  the  new  society 
was  the  venerable  John  Kenrick,  of  Newton,  who  had  been 
for  many  years  an  earnest  and  active  Abolitionist.  He  was 
subsequently  made  president,  and  in  his  will  left  the  society 
the  first  legacy  it  received.  Several  colored  men  soon  be 
came  members,  but  at  that  early  period  no  women  joined 
its  ranks. 

Its  officers  consisted  of  a  president,  two  vice-presidents,  a 
corresponding  secretary,  a  recording  secretary,  treasurer,  and 
a  board  of  counsellors  consisting  of  six  members.  Arnold 
Buffum,  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  was  made  presi 
dent.  His  father  was  a  member  of  the  old  Abolition  Society 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  ANTISLAVERY  SOCIETY. 


225 


of  Rhode  Island,  and  he  was  nurtured  in  the  faith  of  immedi 
ate  emancipation.  Seven  years  before,  he  had  visited  England 
and  made  the  acquaintance  of  Thomas  Clarkson  and  other 
eminent  antislavery  men  and  women  of  that  kingdom.  He 
brought  to  its  service  faith,  earnestness,  and  devotion.  Wil 
liam  Lloyd  Garrison,  whose  name  is  more  prominently  identi 
fied  with  modern  antislavery  than  that  of  any  other  individual, 
was  made  corresponding  secretary.  On  the  board  of  coun 
sellors  were  Moses  Thacher,  Oliver  Johnson,  and  Robert  B. 
Hall.  Mr.  Thacher  was  a  clergyman,  and  somewhat  distin 
guished  for  his  earnest  advocacy  of  the  theology  of  Dr.  Em- 
mons,  and  also  for  his  hostility  to  the  institution  of  Free 
Masonry.  He  was  the  author  of  the  first  address  put  forth 
by  the  society,  and  continued  till  the  close  of  the  struggle  an 
effective  laborer  in  the  cause  of  emancipation.  Mr.  Johnson 
was  a  young  man,  intending  to  enter  the  ministry.  He,  how 
ever,  early  identified  himself  with  the  antislavery  cause,  and 
became  a  practical  and  efficient  worker,  sometimes  as  a  lec 
turer,  but  more  generally  as  an  editor.  When  the  society  was 
organized,  he  was  the  conductor  of  "  The  Christian  Soldier," 
which  he  made  at  once  a  champion  of  the  cause.  During  Mr. 
Garrison's  visit  to  England,  in  1833,  he  had  charge  of  "  The 
Liberator,"  and  was  at  times  assistant  editor.  Afterward  he 
was  connected  for  several  years  with  the  "  New  York  Tribune," 
and  subsequently,  at  successive  periods,  editor  of  the  "  Anti- 
slavery  Bugle,"  the  "  Pennsylvania  Freeman,"  and  the  "  Anti- 
slavery  Standard,"  each  of  them  a  radical  antislavery  journal. 
He  labored  in  these  different  fields  with  tireless  persistency  for 
the  emancipation  and  enfranchisement  of  the  negro  race.  Mr. 
Hall  entered  upon  the  work  with  much  activity,  but  his  subse 
quent  career  hardly  came  up  to  his  early  promise.  He  be 
came  a  clergyman  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  from  that  or 
some  other  cause  he  lost  something  of  his  early  zeal ;  though 
as  a  member  of  the  XXXIVth  and  XXXVth  Congresses  his 
votes  were  steadily  on  the  side  of  freedom. 

In  the  preamble  the  declaration  was  made  that  every  person 
of  full  age  and  sane  mind  had  a  right  to  immediate  freedom 
from  personal  bondage  ;  that  man  could  not,  consistently  with 


29 


226       KISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

reason,  religion,  and  the  eternal  and  immutable  principles  of 
justice,  be  the  property  of  man ;  that  whoever  retained  his 
fellow-man  in  bondage  was  guilty  of  a  grievous  wrong ;  that 
difference  of  complexion  was  no  reason  why  man  should  be 
deprived  of  his  natural  rights,  or  subjected  to  any  political 
disability.  "  While  we  advance  these  opinions,"  so  read  the 
preamble,  "  as  principles  on  which  we  intend  to  act,  we  de 
clare  that  we  will  not  operate  on  the  existing  relations  of 
society  by  other  than  peaceful  and  lawful  means,  and  that  we 
will  give  no  countenance  to  violence  or  insurrection."  Its 
second  article  declared  "  that  the  objects  of  the  society  shall 
be  to  endeavor,  by  all  means  sanctioned  by  law,  humanity, 
and  religion,  to  effect  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  United 
States,  to-  improve  the  character  and  condition  of  free  people 
of  color,  to  inform  and  correct  public  opinion  in  relation  to 
their  situation  and  rights,  and  to  obtain  for  them  equal  politi 
cal  rights  and  privileges  with  the  whites." 

The  New  England  Antislavery  Society,  beginning  its  career 
with  the  promulgation  of  the  doctrine  that  immediate  emanci 
pation  was  the  duty  of  the  master  and  the  right  of  the  slave, 
held  its  first  public  meeting  in  Essex  Street  Church,  in  Boston, 
on  the  29th  of  January,  when  a  very  able  address  was  deliv 
ered  by  the  Rev.  Moses  Thacher,  then  editor  of  the  Boston 
"  Telegraph,"  a  Hopkinsian  journal  of  that  city.  Other  pub 
lic  addresses  were  made.  Arnold  Buifum  and  Oliver  Johnson 
were  appointed  agents,  and  subsequently  did  much  to  arouse 
public  attention  by  their  labors.  Eminent  philanthropists,  in 
the  United  States  and  England,  were  early  chosen  honorary 
members,  and  the  society  entered  at  once  upon  its  work.  It 
issued  an  address  to  the  people,  and  voted  that,  with  a  copy 
of  the  constitution,  it  be  sent  to  all  the  editors  and  clergymen 
of  New  England.  This  address  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Thacher, 
chairman  of  the  board  of  counsellors,  was  very  significant  of 
the  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  Abolitionists  at  that  time,  affirm 
ing  that  instead  of  violent  they  counselled  only  moral  means. 
He  declared  the  object  of  the  society  to  be  "  neither  war  nor 
sedition  "  ;  that  the  only  influence  it  could  exert  must  be  that 
of  "  moral  suasion,"  not  "  coercion  "  ;  that  "  in  the  truth  and 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  ANTISL AVERT  SOCIETY.       227 

the  God  of  truth  alone  we  trust  for  the  success  of  our  exer 
tions  ;  and  with  the  truth  and  in  the  name  of  the  God  of  truth 
we  plead  for  the  cause  of  humanity."  The  address  asserted 
that  the  "  fundamental  principle  upon  which  our  constitution 
is  based  is  our  Saviour's  Golden  Rule  :  4  All  things  whatsoever  ye 
would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them.''  Hence 
the  grand  articles  in  our  creed,  that '  God  hath  made  of  one 
blood  all  the  nations  of  men,  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the 
earth  ' ;  c  that  all  men  are  created  equal ' ;  that i  they  are  en 
dowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights,  and 
that  among  them  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happi 
ness.'  " 

The  address  also  declared  that  the  whole  American  people 
ought  to  be  an  antislavery  society ;  that  the  spirit  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty,  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  spirit 
and  letter  of  the  Constitution,  required  it ;  and  that  the  spirit 
of  the  gospel  of  Christ  and  the  voice  of  public,  commutative, 
and  retributive  justice  imperiously  demanded  it.  The  duty  of 
immediate  emancipation  was  unqualifiedly  asserted  and  main 
tained.  "  We  believe,"  said  the  address,  "  that  slavery  is 
an  evil  now ;  and,  of  course,  the  slaves  ought  to  be  now  eman 
cipated.  If  the  thief  is  found  in  possession  of  stolen  property, 
he  is  required  immediately  to  relinquish  it.  The  slaveholder 
and  the  man-stealer  are  in  unlawful  possession  of  the  stolen 
sons  and  daughters  of  Africa  ;  they  ought,  therefore,  immedi 
ately  to  set  them  free.  Every  principle  which  proves  slavery 
unjust,  an  evil,  and  a  curse,  equally  demonstrates  the  duty  of 
immediate  emancipation." 

The  number  of  slaves  was  then  estimated  to  be  two  and  a 
quarter  millions.  Without  impugning  the  motives  of  persons 
who  had,  from  feelings  of  the  purest  benevolence,  advocated  the 
policy  of  colonization,  that  scheme  was  declared  to  be  radically 
wrong,  tending  to  involve  the  country  in  remediless  evils.  It 
was  contrary  to  justice,  humanity,  philanthropy,  and  the  letter 
and  the  spirit  of  the  Golden  Rule.  The  right  of  the  emanci 
pated  black  man  to  reside  in  the  United  States  was  an  inheri 
tance  earned  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow.  It  was  affirmed  that 
colored  men  had  the  right  of  protection  in  their  native  land, 


228       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

and  a  right  to  the  constitutional  franchises  of  free  citizens. 
The  nation  was  earnestly  called  upon  to  be  just,  to  avert  the 
scenes  of  San  Domingo.  There  was  declared  to  be  but  one 
alternative :  "  The  master  must  manumit  his  slave,  or  the 
slave  will  manumit  himself.  We  have  no  doubt  that  the  God 
of  Heaven,  who  is  a  God  of  justice,  is  at  this  moment,  in  his 
Word  and  providence,  setting  before  the  Southern  planter  this 
very  alternative  ;  and  this  alternative  embraces  life  and  death, 
a  blessing  and  a  curse.  To  choose  the  first,  and  say  to  the 
slave,  BE  FREE,  is  to  shut  the  floodgates  of  human  war  and  of 
human  blood.  To  choose  the  latter,  and  hold  the  colored  man 
in  vassalage,  must  erelong  break  up  the  fountains  of  the  great 
deep,  and  have  a  direct  tendency  to  unsheathe  the  sword  of 
vengeance,  revolution,  carnage,  and  death." 

This  address,  so  earnest,  temperate,  and  firm,  appealing  not 
to  passion  or  prejudice,  but  to  conscience  and  reason,  invited 
the  co-operation  of  every  philanthropist  and  Christian  to  "  show 
himself  a  friend  to  his  country  and  a  friend  to  the  black  man." 
Based  upon  such  principles,  guided  by  such  maxims,  hold 
ing  such  articles  of  faith,  and  inspired  by  a  spirit  thus  pure, 
humane,  and  just,  the  New  England  Antislavery  Society  made 
its  appeal  and  entered  upon  the  work  of  immediate  emancipa 
tion.  It  is  a  sad  commentary  on  the  philanthropy,  patriotism, 
and  piety  of  those  days  that  an  association  avowing  such  prin 
ciples  and  proposing  such  measures  should  have  encountered 
so  fierce  a  storm  of  obloquy  and  reproach,  and  been  so  long 
and  so  persistently  opposed  by  the  leading  influences  in  church 
and  state.  That  simple  historical  fact  utters  a  language  of 
sterner  condemnation  than  pages  of  invective  and  indignant 
characterization.  Still,  amid  all  this  opposition,  many  re 
sponded  to  the  appeal,  and  the  members  rapidly  increased. 

On  the  9th  of  January,  1833,  its  first  annual  meeting  was 
holden  in  Boston.  At  this  meeting  Samuel  E.  Sewall  intro 
duced  a  resolution  in  favor  of  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the 
slave-trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  earnestly  exhorted 
the  society  to  exert  itself  to  put  an  end  to  that  atrocious  sys 
tem  tolerated  at  the  seat  of  government.  David  Lee  Child 
submitted  a  resolution  declaring  that  free  people  of  color  and 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  ANTISLAVERY  SOCIETY.       229 

slaves  had  less  liberty  and  were  less  protected  by  law  in  the 
United  States  than  in  any  part  of  the  world.  In  support  of 
his  resolution,  Mr.  Child  demonstrated,  in  an  elaborate  and 
exhaustive  speech  and  by  references  to  the  CIVIL  LAW,  that  the 
slaves  were  far  better  protected  in  their  rights  in  the  French, 
Spanish,  and  Portuguese  colonies  than  in  the  United  States. 
Amasa  Walker,  then  a  merchant  of  Boston,  submitted  and 
ably  supported  a  resolution  proclaiming  the  objects  of  the  New 
England  Antislavery  Society  to  be  in  strict  accordance  with 
the  plainest  principles  of  religion,  philanthropy,  and  patriot 
ism. 

An  elaborate  report  of  the  board  of  managers  was  read  by 
Mr.  Garrison.  It  fully  explained  the  objects  and  vindicated 
the  principles  of  the  society.  It  pronounced  immediate  aboli 
tion  a  necessity.  It  sharply  criticised  the  Colonization  So 
ciety,  because  "  it  neither  calls  for  any  change  of  conduct 
toward  people  of  color  on  the  part  of  the  nation,  nor  has  in 
itself  any  principle  of  reform."  It  asserted  that  immediate 
abolition  would  remove  the  cause  of  bloodshed  and  insurrec 
tion  ;  give  protection  to  millions  who  are  now  at  the  mercy  of 
irresponsible  masters  and  drivers  ;  annihilate  a  system  of  licen 
tiousness,  incest,  blood,  and  cruelty;  open  an  immense  market 
to  mechanics  and  manufacturers,  and  afford  facilities  for  edu 
cating  the  slaves  in  morals,  science,  and  literature  ;  extinguish 
the  fires  of  division  between  the  North  and  the  South,  and 
make  the  bonds  of  union  stronger  than  chains  of  iron ;  permit 
every  slave  to  be  supplied  with  a  Bible,  and  place  a  hundred 
thousand  infants  annually  born  of  slave  parents  in  primary 
and  sabbath  schools.  It  conjured  Abolitionists  to  maintain 
their  ground  firmly  and  confidently.  It  closed  by  proclaiming 
that  the  blood  of  millions  who  have  perished  unredressed  in 
this  guilty  land,  the  sufferings  and  lamentations  of  the  millions 
who  yet  remain  in  cruel  servitude,  the  groans  and  supplications 
of  bleeding  Africa,  the  cries  of  the  suffering  victims  in  the 
holds  of  slave-ships  now  wafted  on  the  ocean,  and  the  threat- 
enings  and  the  judgments  of  the  God  of  all  flesh,  all  demand 
the  utter  and  immediate  annihilation  of  slavery.  At  this  an 
nual  meeting  John  Kenrick  of  Newton  was  chosen  president, 


230        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

Samuel  E.  Sewall  and  Oliver  Johnson  were  made  correspond 
ing  and  recording  secretaries.  On  motion  of  Mr.  Garrison,  the 
board  of  managers  were  authorized  to  call  a  meeting  of  the 
friends  of  abolition,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  national  anti- 
slavery  society,  as  being  "  essential  to  the  complete  regenera 
tion  of  public  sentiment  on  the  subject  of  slavery  and  to  the 
speedy  overthrow  of  that  iniquitous  system." 

Organized  on  the  basis  of  the  common  rights  of  human  na 
ture  and  the  laws  of  God,  the  New  England  Antislavery  So 
ciety  had  proclaimed  that  the  sin  of  slavery  and  the  duty  of 
repentance  belonged  to  that  generation.  Its  outspoken,  clear, 
and  distinct  enunciation  of  the  sin  of  oppression  and  the  duty 
of  immediate  repentance  had,  during  the  first  year  of  its  ex 
istence,  been  welcomed  with  enthusiasm  by  thousands.  During 
no  previous  year  in  the  history  of  the  country  had  the  ques 
tions  pertaining  to  the  existence  of  slavery  been  so  lifted  up 
to  the  domain  of  reason  and  conscience.  Never  had  the  cause 
of  the  slave  been  so  uncompromisingly  held  before  the  Ameri 
can  people. 

The  organization  of  the  New  England  Antislavery  Society 
and  its  appeal  to  the  conscience  and  reason  of  the  country 
evoked  responses  in  several  of  the  free  States.  Antislavery 
societies  were  organized  ;  and  many  earnest,  humane,  and 
just  men  and  women  entered  upon  the  work  of  emancipation. 
Nearly  all  who  engaged  in  the  formation  of  such  societies 
were  members  of  Christian  churches,  and  were  taking,  at  the 
same  time,  an  active  part  in  the  religious,  missionary,  and 
philanthropic  enterprises  of  that  day.  Indeed,  during  the  first 
five  years  of  the  antislavery  agitation,  its  promoters,  regard 
ing  the  effort  as  their  religious  work,  looked  with  hope  and 
confident  expectation  to  the  churches  and  benevolent  organiza 
tions  for  hearty  sympathy  and  co-operation.  Unlike  the  great 
contest  on  the  Missouri  Compromise,  which  had  a  few  years 
before  so  profoundly  stirred  the  country,  this  was  moral  rather 
than  political.  Consequently,  they  who  became  members  of 
these  associations  were  accustomed  to  consider  the  questions 
at  issue  in  their  moral  rather  than  in  their  civil  bearings,  and 


THE  NEW   YORK  ANTISLAVERY   SOCIETY.  231 

to  look  for  aid  to  Christians,  churches,  and  benevolent  organ 
izations,  rather  than  to  politicians,  parties,  and  legislative 
bodies.  Unaccustomed  to  public  affairs  and  sharing  in  the 
general  distrust  of  party  politics,  they  seldom  sought  help 
from  political  action,  and  usually  failed  when  they  did. 

Although  the  churches  generally  failed  to  respond  promptly 
to  these  Christian  appeals  for  immediate  action  on  behalf  of 
the  oppressed,  the  Abolitionists,  though  disappointed,  were  not 
disheartened.  The  work  went  on.  Many  antislavery  socie 
ties  were  formed.  Several  antislavery  newspapers  were  estab 
lished,  and  a  general  system  of  antislavery  agitation,  having 
been  inaugurated,  was  continued.  Among  the  papers  estab 
lished  was  the  "  Emancipator,"  commenced  in  New  York  in 
March,  1833,  by  the  pecuniary  aid  of  Arthur  Tappan,  and 
edited  by  Rev.  Charles  W.  Denison.  The  establishment  of 
that  journal  in  the  commercial  metropolis,  in  which  the  prin 
ciples  and  policy  of  the  friends  of  emancipation  were  clearly 
and  boldly  set  forth,  together  with  other  influences,  caused 
much  excitement  and  aroused  feelings  of  resentment  and 
hostility.  This  was  signally  manifested  by  the  proceedings 
on  the  evening  of  the  2d  of  October,  1833,  and  subsequently. 
The  friends  of  immediate  abolition  were  summoned  by  the 
call  of  a  committee,  of  which  Joshua  Leavitt  was  chair 
man,  to  meet  at  Clinton  Hall  to  form  a  New  York  City  Anti- 
slavery  Society.  On  the  afternoon  of  that  day  large  placards 
were  posted  in  the  streets,  calling  upon  all  persons  from 
the  South  and  all  persons  disposed  to  manifest  the  true  feel 
ings  of  the  State  to  meet  at  the  same  time  arid  place.  A 
hostile  demonstration  was  of  course  anticipated. 

The  trustees  of  Clinton  Hall  refusing  to  fulfil  their  contract, 
and  an  unsuccessful  application  having  been  made  for  other 
rooms,  a  few  antislavery  men  met  in  the  street  near  the  City 
Hall,  and  consulted  upon  the  possibility  of  holding  the  proposed 
meeting.  At  the  suggestion  of  Lewis  Tappan,  a  trustee  of 
Chatham  Street  Chapel,  it  was  determined  to  hold  the  meet 
ing  in  the  lecture-room  of  that  building.  At  the  hour  of  meet 
ing,  about  fifty  determined  Abolitionists,  who  had  been  person 
ally  notified,  assembled.  Arthur  and  Lewis  Tappan  passed 


232       RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

unrecognized  through  an  immense  concourse  of  men  assem 
bled  in  front  of  Tammany  Hall,  preparatory  to  the  premedi 
tated  attack  upon  the  proposed  meeting.  The  sexton  of  the 
church,  locking  the  iron  gates  in  front  of  the  building,  placed 
the  keys  in  the  hands  of  Lewis  Tappan,  who  informed  the 
meeting  that  it  would  probably  be  assaulted,  and  that  soon ; 
and  that  they  should  promptly  despatch  the  business  for  which 
they  were  assembled. 

John  Rankin,  a  merchant  of  that  city  and  a  devoted  Aboli 
tionist,  was  made  chairman.  Amid  those  threatening  demon 
strations  the  blessing  of  God  was  invoked.  A  committee, 
appointed  at  a  previous  meeting,  reported  a  constitution, 
which  was  quickly  adopted.  Arthur  Tappan  was  chosen  pres 
ident  ;  Elizur  Wright,  Jr.,  and  Charles  W.  Denison  were 
chosen  corresponding  and  recording  secretaries.  The  board 
of  managers  consisted  of  Joshua  Leavitt,  Isaac  T.  Hopper, 
Abraham  L.  Cox,  Lewis  Tappan,  and  William  Goodell.  The 
meeting  was  adjourned,  the  keys  were  delivered  to  the  sexton, 
and  the  members  retired  through  the  main  audience  room  of 
the  chapel  into  a  rear  street.  They  were  followed  by  a  man  hav 
ing  a  light  in  one  hand  and  a  dagger  in  the  other.  He  was, 
however,  discovered  by  the  sexton,  his  light  extinguished,  and 
he  was  left  to  grope  his  way  in  the  darkness  as  he  best  could. 
Mr.  Hopper,  a  sturdy  Quaker,  whose  life  had  been  consecrated 
to  works  of  beneficence  and  the  cause  of  the  oppressed,  re 
fused  to  retire,  and  boldly  faced  the  mob,  as  with  shouts  and 
threats  they  rushed  into  the  chapel.  In  their  disappointment 
they  seized  a  negro,  called  him  Arthur  Tappan,  placed  him  in 
the  chair,  and  forced  him  to  make  a  speech  ;  which  he  did 
very  creditably  to  himself,  though  not  very  satisfactorily  to 
his  auditors.  He  said :  "  Gentlemen,  I  am  not  used  to  mak 
ing  speeches,  and  don't  pretend  to  be  qualified  to  do  so.  But 
one  or  two  things  I  do  know :  one  is,  God  hath  made  of  one 
blood  all  nations  ;  and  another  is,  all  men  are  created  equal, 
and  are  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable 
rights,  among  them  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 
—  "  "  That  will  do,"  exclaimed  his  impatient  hearers. 

Joshua  Leavitt  and  Lewis  Tappan  devoted  the  night  to  pre- 


THE  NEW  YORK  ANTISLAVERY  SOCIETY.         233 

paring  an  account  of  the  proceedings,  and  furnishing  copies 
for  the  city  press,  whose  readers  the  next  morning  were  not  a 
little  surprised  to  find  in  the  same  journals  both  the  statement 
that  "  the  agitators  had  been  put  down,"  and  an  authorized 
report  of  the  doings  of  the  meeting  and  the  organization  of 
the  society.     This  society  soon  issued  an  address  to  the  people 
of  the  city  in  explanation  and  defence  of  immediate  emancipa 
tion,  and  the  principles  and  policy  it  proposed  in  its  attempts 
to  secure  it  by  the  American  people.     Nor  were  their  doctrines 
and  policy  all  that  were  calculated  to  attract  attention  ;  the 
personnel  of  the  new  organization  was  not  unworthy  of  its 
noble  sentiments  and  benignant  purposes.     Arthur  Tappan, 
its  president,  was  a  native  of  Massachusetts.     He  early  be 
came  a  distinguished  and  successful  merchant  of  New  York. 
An  earnest  Christian  and  philanthropist,  his  name  was  asso 
ciated  with  nearly  every  missionary  and  reformatory  enter 
prise  of  his  day.     Modest,  quiet,   and   unassuming,  without 
much  facility  in  the   use  of  tongue  or  pen,  his  life  will  be 
remembered  rather  as  one  of  deeds  than  words.     Surrounded 
by  ledgers  and  invoices,  clerks  and  customers,  his  ear  and 
hand  were  alike  open  to  the  appeals  for  personal  charity,  the 
claims  of  an  oppressed  race  or  of  a  ruined  world.     Munificent 
as  unostentatious  in  his  gifts,  his  range  of  benevolence  was 
wide  and  catholic.     His  brother,  Lewis  Tappan,  though  unlike 
him  in  many  particulars,  was  no  less  earnest  and  devoted  to 
the  cause  of   reform   and   Christian   benevolence.     Like   his 
brother,  with  whom  he  was  so  long  associated  in  trade  and 
beneficence,  he  was  a  man  of  remarkable  business  capacity, 
great  courage,  and  a  large-hearted  philanthropy.     Unlike  him, 
he  spoke  and  wrote  with  fluency,  pungency,  and  vigor.     Of 
the  many  enterprises  with  which  he  has  been  connected  his 
rare  versatility  and  energy  have  made  him  the  life  and  soul. 
"  He  would,"  says  a  fellow-laborer,  "  oversee  their  immense 
mercantile    business,   go   on   'Change,   write   two   editorials, 
attend  a  meeting  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society's  ex 
ecutive  committee,  step  into  the  noon  prayer-meeting  and  pray 
or  deliver  an  exhortation,  and  wind  up  by  sitting  in  the  church 
session,  and  addressing  a  temperance  meeting  composed  of  ne- 

30 


234       RISE  AND  FALL   QF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

groes  in  the  evening,  all  in  the  same  day  ;  all  the  time  would 
be  in  a  hurry,  but  never  flurried,  and  would  seem  perfectly  at 
home  in  each  of  these  vocations."  He  infused  much  of  his 
own  energy  and  system  into  the  new  society,  besides  contrib 
uting  largely  to  its  funds. 

Another  member  of  that  meeting  and  board  was  William 
Goodell,  a  lifelong  friend  of  the  Tappans  and  of  the  slave. 
Among  the  earliest  in  the  field,  fond  of  abstract  reasoning, 
speculation,  and  fundamental  principles,  he  was,  perhaps,  too 
prone  to  adopt  extreme  opinions  and  impracticable  theories. 
Though  apt  to  be  diffuse  and  prolix,  he  often  condensed  his 
thoughts  and  gave  them  most  clear,  terse,  and  forcible  expres 
sion.  Eminently  conscientious  and  of  undaunted  courage  and 
untiring  industry,  he  rendered  invaluable  service  to  an  unpop 
ular  but  righteous  cause  in  the  days  of  its  feebleness.  For 
half  a  century  he  developed  and  brought  to  light  by  his  inde 
fatigable  labors  a  mass  of  facts  and  reasonings  on  the  subject, 
which  have  afforded  rich  materials  for  the  more  effective  use 
by  other  men  of  more  popular  tact  and  talent.  His  "  His 
tory  of  Slavery  and  Antislavery  "  is  a  magazine  from  which 
the  speakers  and  writers  of  a  generation  drew  their  weapons 
of  attack  and  defence  in  the  great  conflict. 

Another  of  the  veterans  who  was  present  at  that  meeting  was 
Joshua  Leavitt,  a  man  of  varied  intelligence  and  of  acknowl 
edged  ability,  logical  in  his  mode  of  thought,  clear  and  forci 
ble  in  his  style  of  expression.  From  his  long  connection  with 
the  press  and  frequent  residence  in  Washington,  where  he  was 
on  terms  of  intimacy  with  Adams,  Giddings,  Slade,  and  other 
men  of  similar  character,  his  information  upon  the  political  re 
lations  and  bearings  of  slavery  came  to  be  comprehensive, 
varied,  and  minute,  and  therefore  of  great  practical  service  to 
the  antislavery  cause.  He  was  a  fertile  and  voluminous  writer, 
and  by  his  editorials,  tracts,  and  other  papers,  did  much  to  en 
lighten  the  people  and  prepare  them  for  political  action.  A 
strong  free-trader,  his  sympathies  were  more  with  the  Demo 
cratic  party  than  with  the  Whigs,  whom  he  manifestly  dis 
liked,  and  by  whom  his  dislike  was  cordially  reciprocated. 

Such  was  the  origin,  material,  and  purpose  of  the  New  York 


THE  NEW  YORK  ANTISLAVERY   SOCIETY.  235 

society.  It  was  able  in  men  and  means,  and  did  much  in  those 
early  days  to  bring  and  keep  before  the  public  eye  the  great 
truths  of  human  fraternity  and  man's  political  rights.  And 
yet,  though  it  embraced  so  much  of  intellectual  and  moral 
worth,  with  sentiments  so  humane  and  Christian,  and  purposes 
so  carefully  and  guardedly  enunciated,  it  was  at  once  de 
nounced  by  mob  and  press,  by  truckling  partisanship  and  re 
ligious  conservatism.  The  Colonizationists,  deeming  this  organ 
ization  and  its  doctrines  antagonistic  to  their  own,  joined  in  the 
general  denunciation.  At  a  meeting  held  a  few  days  after  its 
organization,  immediate  emancipation  was  bitterly  denounced 
and  Abolitionists  sternly  rebuked.  Chancellor  Wai  worth,  whose 
name  was  for  many  years  associated  with  religious  and  benev 
olent  organizations,  flippantly  styled  such  generous,  humane 
and  Christian  men  as  had  founded  the  new  society  "  vision 
ary  enthusiasts  "  and  "  reckless  demagogues."  David  B.  Og- 
den,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  New  York  bar,  branded  them 
as  "  fanatics,"  and  declared  their  doctrines  "  opposed  to  the 
Constitution,"  and  their  organization  "  the  poetry  of  philan 
thropy."  Even  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  eminent  among 
the  men  of  his  age  for  the  purity  of  his  public  and  private 
character,  and  for  his  zeal  and  activity  in  the  cause  of  religion 
and  benevolence,  characterized  the  antislavery  movement  as 
"  the  very  wildness  of  fanaticism."  Such  language  from  such 
men,  in  the  then  feverish  condition  of  the  public  mind,  clearly 
tended  to  deepen  the  prejudices  of  those  who  had  confidence 
in  their  integrity,  piety,  and  wisdom,  and  to  arouse  the  brutal 
passions  of  the  rough  and  reckless. 

How  much  such  language,  uttered  at  that  time,  contributed 
to  arouse  the  spirit  of  violence  which  was  so  fearfully  developed 
in  that  city  during  the  next  year  will  never  be  known.  If  such 
men  could  so  violate  the  sanctities  of  Christian  character  and 
confidence,  was  it  strange  that  the  mob  should  invade  the 
sanctities,  no  more  sacred,  of  private  dwellings  and  the  house 
of  God  ?  In  the  light  of  to-day,  was  it  less  censurable  in 
Chancellors  Walworth  and  Frelinghuysen  thus  to  arraign  the 
public  character  and  conduct  of  such  men,  and  that  in  regard 
to  purposes  and  plans  so  pure  and  benign,  than  for  the  un- 


236       EISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

named  and  lawless  ruffianism  of  New  York  to  rifle  the  houses 
of  Lewis  Tappan  and  Dr.  Cox,  or  break  into  and  disperse  the 
meeting  at  Chatham  Street  Chapel  ? 

Notwithstanding,  however,  this  violent  and  systematic  op 
position,  the  cause  of  immediate  emancipation  made  rapid 
progress  during  the  year.  No  less  than  twenty-five  periodicals 
and  newspapers  gave  it  their  support.  One  hundred  and 
twenty-four  clergymen,  mostly  in  New  England,  united  in  an 
address  to  the  public,  setting  forth  similar  sentiments.  During 
the  year  John  G.  Whittier  published  his  "  Justice  and  Expedi 
ency,"  an  earnest,  tender,  and  eloquent  appeal  to  his  country 
men  in  behalf  of  oppressed  millions  who  were  perishing  as  the 
brute  perished  and  whose  blood  was  upon  the  nation.  About 
the  same  time,  Mrs.  Lydia  Maria  Child  issued  her  "  APPEAL  IN 

FAVOR  OF  THAT  CLASS  OF  AMERICANS  CALLED  AFRICANS."      This 

volume,  of  more  than  two  hundred  pages,  was  a  work  of  rare 
merit,  and  exerted,  perhaps  more  than  any  other,  a  powerful 
influence  upon  thoughtful  and  cultivated  minds.  At  the  be 
ginning  of  the  same  year,  Rev.  Amos  A.  Phelps  published  his 
"  Lectures  upon  Slavery  and  its  Remedy,"  in  a  volume  of 
nearly  three  hundred  pages.  Of  this  work  Mr.  Garrison,  many 
years  afterward,  said  "  that  it  elucidated  the  nature  of  slavery, 
the  sin  of  making  property  in  man,  and  the  duty  of  immediate 
emancipation,  in  a  manner  so  masterly  as  never  to  have  been 
surpassed  by  any  writer  since  that  time.  It  was  an  encyclo 
paedia  of  fact,  argument,  illustration,  and  logic." 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

HOSTILITY  TO   COLORED   SCHOOLS.  —  MISS   CRANDALL'S   SCHOOL 
SUPPRESSED. 

Slavery  Hostile  to  Education.  —  Proposed  Collegiate  School  at  New  Haven.  — 
Hostile  Action  of  the  Citizens  of  New  Haven.  —  Noyes  Academy  in  New 
Hampshire.  —  Colored  Students  admitted.  —  Institution  broken  up.  —  Miss 
Crandall's  School  in  Connecticut.  —  Admission  of  Colored  Pupils.  —  Hostility 
of  the  People.  —  Arbitrary  Legislation.  —  Imprisonment  of  Miss  Crandall.  — 
Samuel  J.  May.  —  Arthur  Tappan.  —  Trial.  —  Failure  of  the  Prosecution.  — 
Persecution  of  Miss  Crandall.  —  Incendiary  Attempts.  —  Abandonment  of  her 
School.  —  Her  Opposers  Triumphant. 

AMONG  the  essential  conditions  of  American  slavery  was  the 
necessary  ignorance  of  its  victims.  By  its  own  inexorable  laws 
they  were  doomed  to  moral  and  mental  debasement.  Conse 
quently  the  slaveholder  and  his  abettors  looked  with  disfavor 
upon  any  efforts  which  were  designed  or  calculated  to  instruct 
either  the  slave  himself  or  any  of  his  race.  Free  persons  of 
color,  at  the  North  as  well  as  the  South,  had  felt  the  full  force 
of  this  admitted  necessity.  Generous  efforts  to  instruct  their 
darkened  minds  encountered  opposition,  as  they  themselves 
were  made  to  feel  the  repressive  influences  of  this  wicked  and 
abnormal  system.  Wherever  such  efforts  had  been  made  to 
establish  institutions  for  the  higher  culture  of  colored  youth, 
they  had  signally  failed.  The  antislavery  movement,  how 
ever,  had  excited  higher  hopes  and  aspirations.  The  more 
advanced  of  the  colored  race,  and  their  friends  who  were 
pledged  to  the  immediate  emancipation  of  the  slave  and  the 
protection  and  elevation  of  free  people  of  color,  saw  the  ne 
cessity  and  recognized  the  duty  either  of  founding  institutions 
for  their  education  or  of  opening  for  their  admission  those 
already  established.  The  well-known  devotion  of  New  Eng 
land  to  popular  education  caused  them  to  look  to  her  for  en- 


238        RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

couragement,  as  that  portion  of  the  country  where  their  hopes 
might  be  realized.  But  they  were  speedily  doomed  to  disap 
pointment,  and  made  to  feel  that,  though  the  tree  of  slavery 
was  planted  on  Southern  soil,  its  branches  overshadowed,  as 
its  roots  penetrated,  the  whole  land,  shedding  its  blighting 
influences  on  Northern  as  well  as  Southern  hearts. 

At  the  convention,  held  in  Philadelphia  in  1831,  of  the  dele 
gates  of  free  people  of  color  from  the  several  States,  it  was 
resolved  to  make  an  effort  to  establish  a  collegiate  school  on 
the  manual-labor  plan.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  raise 
the  necessary  funds  and  carry,  if  possible,  the  plan  into  execu 
tion.  In  their  appeal  to  the  public,  they  stated  with  great 
clearness  the  difficulties  experienced  by  colored  children  in 
gaining  admission  into  seminaries  of  learning,  as  also  into 
manufacturing  and  mechanical  establishments.  They  further 
recommended  that  the  proposed  institution  should  be  located 
in  the  city  of  New  Haven,  and  that  there  should  be  incorpo 
rated  into  its  plan  the  principle  of  self-support ;  so  that  stu 
dents  might,  with  the  attainment  of  that  object,  cultivate 
habits  of  industry  and  obtain  useful  information  and  skill  in 
mechanical  and  agricultural  pursuits  while  pursuing  their 
classical  studies.  Bishop  White  of  Philadelphia  and  several 
clergymen  of  distinction  gave  their  prompt  and  cordial  ap 
proval  to  the  project. 

Connecticut  was  distinguished  for  its  literary  institutions, 
its  system  of  common  schools,  its  mechanical  pursuits  and 
diversified  industries.  This  motion,  however,  to  establish 
within  its  borders  a  seminary  of  learning  for  the  education 
and  higher  culture  of  colored  youth  created  the  most  profound 
excitement  and  called  forth  the  most  determined  resistance. 
The  mayor  of  New  Haven  at  once  summoned  a  meeting  of  its 
citizens  "  to  take  into  consideration  a  scheme  said  to  be  in 
progress  for  the  establishment  in  this  city  of  a  college  for  the 
education  of  colored  youth."  At  this  meeting,  held  on  the 
8th  of  September,  1831,  it  was  resolved  by  the  mayor,  common 
council,  and  legal  voters  of  the  city  that  "  we  will  resist  the 
establishment  of  the  proposed  college  in  this  place  by  every 
lawful  means."  In  the  preamble  to  these  resolutions,  the 


HOSTILITY   TO   COLORED   SCHOOLS.  239 

doctrine  of  immediate  emancipation  and  the  founding  of  col 
leges  for  the  education  of  colored  people  were  pronounced  an 
unwarrantable  and  dangerous  interference  with  the  internal 
concerns  of  the  State,  which  ought  to  be  discouraged.  In  that 
crowded  assembly,  in  a  city  distinguished  for  its  educational 
institutions  and  facilities,  which  had  responded  so  generously 
to  the  claims  of  the  Colonization  Society  for  the  civilization  of 
Africa,  and  the  appeals  of  the  missionary  enterprise  for  the 
conversion  of  the  world,  only  one  voice  was  raised  against 
that  unjust,  unchristian,  and  inhuman  resolution.  That  was 
the  voice  of  Rev.  Simeon  S.  Jocelyn,  who  was  among  the  ear 
liest,  not  only  to  accept  the  doctrine  of  immediate  emanci 
pation,  but  to  labor  earnestly  and  persistently  for  the  moral 
and  educational  elevation  of  the  free  people  of  color.  Thus, 
by  the  cruel  and  wicked  prejudices  of  the  people  of  Connecti 
cut,  many  of  whom  professed  a  personal  interest  in  that  gos 
pel  whose  practical  requirements  and  realization  they  then  so 
strangely  ignored,  was  defeated  this  beneficent  purpose  for 
promoting  the  improvement  of  the  colored  race. 

This  action  of  the  citizens  of  New  Haven,  while  it  discour 
aged,  did  not  prevent  still  further  efforts  for  the  establishment 
of  such  an  academic  institution  in  New  England.  Several 
thousand  dollars  were  subscribed,  and  several  places  were 
recommended  for  its  establishment.  The  trustees  of  the 
Noyes  Academy,  in  Canaan,  New  Hampshire,  opened  their 
institution  for  the  admission  of  colored  students.  Several 
young  men  entered  the  academy,  and  for  a  time  the  friends 
of  the  colored  race  were  encouraged  to  believe  that  an  insti 
tution  had  been  found  where  colored  youth  might  enjoy  the 
means  of  acquiring  an  advanced  education.  That  hope,  how 
ever,  was  soon  dispelled.  A  legal  town-meeting  was  called, 
and  held  on  the  3d  of  July,  1835,  at  which,  after  discussion, 
a  committee  was  chosen  to  remove  the  academy.  From  an 
official  account,  published  in  the  New  Hampshire  "  Patriot," 
the  leading  Democratic  paper  of  the  State,  it  appears  that, 
on  the  morning  of  the  10th  of  August,  the  committee,  aided 
by  some  three  hundred  persons  with  one  hundred  yoke  of 
oxen  and  the  necessary  apparatus,  proceeded  to  the  execu- 


240        RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN   AMERICA. 

tion  of  their  discreditable  task.  It  is  stated  that  the  most 
respectable  and  wealthy  farmers  of  that  vicinity  were  engaged 
in  this  lawless  procedure.  "  The  building,"  says  this  official 
account,  "  was  safely  landed  on  the  corner  near  the  Baptist 
meeting-house,  where  it  stands,  not  like  the  monument  on 
Bunker's  heights,  erected  in  memory  of  those  departed  spirits 
who  fought  and  fell  struggling  for  liberty,  but  as  the  monu 
ment  of  those  living  spirits  who  are  struggling  to  destroy 
what  our  fathers  have  gained." 

This  was  in  the  year  of  grace  1835.  And  what  was  the 
offence  ?  A  dozen  colored  youth  were  admitted  into  Noyes 
Academy,  an  incorporated  institution  in  the  State  of  New 
Hampshire,  on  equal  terms  with  other  youth,  for  moral  and 
intellectual  culture.  That  was  all,  —  the  very  head  and  front 
of  their  offending.  For  this  offence  the  citizens,  in  formal 
town-meeting  assembled,  voted  to  remove  it  from  its  foun 
dations.  The  committee,  with  unseemly  alacrity,  hastened  to 
carry  into  effect  this  strange  vote ;  and,  as  if  that  were  not 
enough,  as  if  servility  must  needs  go  further,  all  unconscious 
of  the  disgrace  involved  in  such  a  record,  rushed  into  print,  and 
sent  an  official  account  to  the  leading  paper  of  the  State,  — 
and  all  this,  too,  in  the  name  of  "  liberty  "  !  Could  there  be  a 
greater  or  stranger  confusion  of  ideas  ?  Could  the  fanaticism 
of  slavery  go  further  ?  How  demoralized  the  community  which 
could  furnish  the  actors  in  such  a  drama,  and  thus  applaud 
it  when  enacted ! 

Miss  Prudence  Crandall,  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends, 
had  established  a  good  reputation  as  a  teacher  in  Plainfield, 
Connecticut.  In  the  autumn  of  1832,  invited  by  several 
prominent  citizens,  she  purchased  a  large  house  in  the  village 
of  Canterbury,  and  established  a  school  for  young  ladies  in 
the  higher  branches  of  education.  A  few  months  after  com 
mencing  her  school,  she  admitted  Sarah  Harris,  a  colored 
girl,  a  member  of  the  village  church.  She  had  attended 
the  district  school,  and  desired,  to  use  her  own  words,  "  to 
get  a  little  more  learning,  —  enough  to  teach  colored  chil 
dren."  Although  she  had  been  a  classmate  of  some  of 
Miss  Crandall's  pupils  in  the  district  school,  objection  was 


HOSTILITY  TO   COLORED   SCHOOLS.  241 

soon  raised  to  her  remaining  in  this,  institution,  and  remon 
strances  were  made  by  several  patrons  of  the  new  school 
against  her  continuance,  though  some  of  them  belonged  to  the 
same  church,  and  though  they  knew  nothing  to  her  discredit, 
except  that  she  belonged  to  the  proscribed  race.  But  their 
prejudices  against  color  and  their  pride  of  caste  were  aroused, 
and  they  were  resolved  it  should  never  be  said  that  their 
daughters  "went  to  school  with  a  nigger."  Miss  Crandall 
had  invested  all  her  property  in  the  building,  and  had  incurred 
something  of  a  debt  besides  ;  and  the  alternative  presented  to 
her  of  dismissing  that  colored  girl  or  losing  her  white  pupils 
was  a  sore  trial.  She,  however,  met  the  issue  bravely,  grandly, 
and  in  the  spirit  of  self-abnegation  and  devotion  to  principle, 
leaving  the  event  with  God. 

Having  determined  on  her  course,  she  advertised  that  at  the 
commencement  of  her  next  term,  her  school  would  be  opened 
for  young  ladies  and  little  misses  of  color,  and  others  who 
might  wish  to  attend.  The  people  of  Canterbury,  on  learning 
the  fact,  were  greatly  enraged  and  thrown  into  intense  excite 
ment.  A  town  meeting  was  called  on  the  9th  of  March,  before 
the  term  began,  to  adopt  measures  to  avert  or  abate  the  threat 
ened  "  nuisance."  In  the  mean  time  Miss  Crandall  was  grossly 
insulted  and  slandered.  Rev.  Samuel  J.  May,  then  a  pastor 
in  the  neighboring  town  of  Brooklyn,  George  W.  Benson, 
and  Arnold  Buffum,  president  and  agent  of  the  New  England 
Antislavery  Society,  were  commissioned  by  her  to  represent 
her  cause  at  the  town  meeting.  At  the  meeting  resolutions 
were  introduced  protesting  against  the  opening  of  such  a 
school,  and  suggesting  the  appointment  of  the  selectmen  to 
wait  upon  Miss  Crandall  and  persuade  her,  if  possible,  to  re 
linquish  the  project.  Andrew  T.  Judson,  a  Democratic  poli 
tician,  afterward  a  member  of  Congress  and  judge  of  the 
District  Court  of  the  United  States,  resided  on  Canterbury 
Green,  in  a  house  adjoining  the  building  of  the  school ;  and 
this  Democrat  was  horrified  that  a  school  for  negro  girls  was 
to  be  opened  near  his  mansion.  Confessedly  a  leader  in  this 
mean  and  cruel  crusade  against  that  noble  woman  and  her 
benevolent  design,  he  addressed  the  meeting  in  a  strain  of 

31 


242       RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

bitter  and  relentless  hostility,  and  avowed  his  determined  pur 
pose  to  defeat  it. 

When  he  closed,  Mr.  Buffum  and  Mr.  May  presented  a  letter 
to  the  moderator  from  Miss  Crandall,  requesting  that  they 
might  be  heard  in  her  behalf.  But  Judson  and  others  sprang 
to  their  feet,  and  with  clenched  fists  admonished  them  to  be  si 
lent.  They  were  not  permitted  to  speak,  and  she  was  thus  de 
nied  even  the  courtesy  of  a  hearing.  And  yet  these  gentlemen 
went  to  the  meeting  ready  to  agree  with  the  people  of  the  town, 
if  they  would  repay  to  Miss  Crandall  what  they  had  advised 
her  to  give  for  the  house  and  allow  her  time  to  remove,  that 
she  would  transfer  her  school  to  some  more  retired  part  of  the 
town  and  vicinity.  But  the  meeting  would  hear  nothing,  and 
adjourned  with  the  purpose  to  crush  the  enterprise  with  or 
without  law. 

Notwithstanding,  however,  this  opposition,  the  school  was 
opened  with  some  fifteen  or  twenty  pupils.  Then  commenced 
the  most  disgraceful  persecutions.  Her  pupils  were  insulted 
whenever  they  appeared  in  the  village,  the  stores  were  closed 
against  her  and  them,  her  well  was  filled  with  filth,  and  her 
house  was  repeatedly  assailed.  An  attempt  was  made  under 
the  Vagrant  Act  to  drive  her  young  pupils  from  the  town  ;  but, 
on  Mr.  May  and  other  Brooklyn  citizens  giving  bonds  to  the 
amount  of  ten  thousand  dollars,  that  scheme  was  abandoned. 
Baffled  in  their  attempts,  Mr.  Judson  and  the  town  authorities 
repaired  to  the  legislature  and  secured  the  passage  of  a  law 
providing  that  no  person  should  establish  in  that  State  any 
school  or  other  literary  institution  for  the  education  of  colored 
persons  who  were  not  inhabitants  of  the  State,  nor  harbor  or 
board  any  colored  person  not  an  inhabitant  of  the  State  for  that 
purpose,  without  the  consent  in  writing  from  the  selectmen  of 
the  town  in  which  such  school  or  institution  might  be  insti 
tuted.  This  act,  disgraceful  alike  in  its  passage  and  pro 
visions,  was  received  by  the  inhabitants  of  Canterbury  and 
vicinity  with  firing  of  cannon,  ringing  of  bells,  and  other 
demonstrations  of  general  rejoicing. 

A  few  days  after  its  passage,  Mr.  May  and  George  W.  Ben 
son  visited  Miss  Crandall,  to  advise  with  her  in  regard  to  that 


HOSTILITY   TO   COLORED   SCHOOLS. 


243 


inhuman  and  wicked  enactment  by  which  a  woman  might  be 
fined  and  imprisoned  for  giving  instruction  to  colored  children. 
After  consultation,  it  was  determined,  should  she  be  prosecuted, 
that  she  should  remain  in  the  hands  of  those  with  whom  the 
hideous  act  originated.  On  the  27th  of  June  Miss  Crandall 
was  arrested,  brought  before  two  justices  of  the  peace,  and 
committed  to  take  her  trial  at  the  next  term  of  the  county 
court,  in  the  month  of  August.  Mr.  May  and  his  friends 
were  informed  that  she  was  in  the  hands  of  the  sheriff,  and 
would  be  committed  to  jail  unless  bonds  were  given  for  her  ap 
pearance.  According  to  agreement,  however,  the  bonds  were 
not  given,  and  the  responsibility  was  thrown  upon  the  framers 
>f  that  infamous  statute  of  giving  the  required  sureties  them 
selves,  or  of  committing  an  unoffending  woman  to  jail.  A  man 
had  recently  been  confined  in  the  jail  for  the  murder  of  his 

fe.  The  jailer,  at  the  request  of  Mr.  May,  had  his  cell  put  in 
order  for  her  comfortable  reception,  should  she  be  sent  there, 
'he  sheriff  and  jailer  saw  and  felt  that  her  incarceration  would 
bring  dishonor  upon  the  State  and  deep  disgrace  upon  her  per- 

iutors,  and  they  lingered,  in  the  hope  that  something  might 

done  to  avert  the  disagreeable  alternative. 

But  she  and  her  friends  remained  firm.  When  night  came, 
that  brave  and  devoted  woman  was  delivered  into  the  hands 
of  the  jailer,  and  led  into  the  cell  from  which  a  murderer  had 
just  passed  to  execution.  Her  friends  retired,  and  she  re- 

bined  in  the  prison  till  the  morning,  when  the  required 
bonds  were  given.  The  intelligence  of  these  proceedings 
went  over  the  country,  exciting  no  small  amount  of  feeling 
in  all,  and  in  the  better  portion  of  the  community  intense  in 
dignation  at  the  inhuman  law  and  the  scandalous  proceed 
ings  that  preceded  and  led  to  its  enactment.  Arthur  Tappan, 
with  characteristic  promptness  and  generosity,  wrote  at  once 
to  Mr.  May,  indorsing  his  conduct,  authorizing  him  to  spare 
no  reasonable  cost  in  her  defence,  employ  the  ablest  coun 
sel,  and  consider  him  responsible  for  the  expense.  Accord 
ingly,  Hon.  William  W.  Ellsworth,  Hon.  Calvin  Goddard,  and 
Hon.  Henry  Strong,  eminent  members  of  the  Connecticut  bar, 
were  retained.  These  distinguished  lawyers  expressed  the 


244       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

opinion  that  the  law  was  clearly  unconstitutional,  and  would 
be  so  pronounced  by  a  competent  judicial  tribunal. 

But  the  persecution  against  Miss  Crandall  went  on.  Even 
physicians  refused  to  attend  the  sick  of  her  family.  The 
trustees  of  the  church  forbade  her  to  come  with  any  of  her 
family  into  the  house  of  the  Lord.  But  her  friends  stood 
by  her  with  unfaltering  devotion.  Arthur  Tappan  left  his 
pressing  business,  visited  her,  and  was  deeply  affected  by  her 
heroism  and  the  courage  and  trust  with  which  she  inspired 
her  pupils.  To  Mr.  May  he  said  :  "  The  cause  of  the  whole 
oppressed  race  of  our  country  is  to  be  much  affected  by  the 
decision  of  this  question.  You  are  almost  helpless  without 
the  press.  You  must  issue  a  paper,  publish  it  largely,  send  it 
to  all  persons  whom  you  know  in  the  county  and  State,  and  to 
all  the  principal  newspapers  throughout  the  country.  Many 
will  subscribe  for  it  and  contribute  largely  to  its  support,  and 
I  will  pay  whatever  it  may  cost."  Thus  encouraged  and  sup 
ported  by  the  deep  sympathy,  large-hearted  benevolence,  and 
sagacious  counsel  of  Mr.  Tappan,  Mr.  May  commenced  the 
publication  of  a  paper  called  the  "  Unionist."  Charles  C. 
Burleigh,  then  living  with  his  parents  in  the  neighboring  town 
of  Plainfield,  assisting  them  on  their  farm,  and  at  the  same 
time  pursuing  his  legal  studies,  was  sought  out  and  made  its 
editor.  Mr..  Burleigh  thus  commenced  his  antislavery  career, 
which  he  pursued  with  earnest  fidelity  to  the  end  of  the  sys 
tem  he  helped  to  destroy.  By  common  consent,  his  talents 
and  forensic  abilities  were  acknowledged  to  be  of  a  high  order. 
None  ever  doubted  his  conscientiousness  ;  though  many  re 
gretted  certain  idiosyncrasies  of  mind  and  manner,  which 
unquestionably  impaired  somewhat  his  usefulness,  as  they 
marred  the  general  symmetry  of  his  character. 

On  the  23d  of  August,  1833,  the  trial  of  Miss  Crandall  for 
the  crime  of  teaching  a  school  for  colored  girls  was  com 
menced  in  the  court  of  Windham  County,  Judge  Joseph  Eaton 
presiding.  Mr.  Judson,  her  persecutor  and  prosecutor,  took 
the  lead.  He  denied  that  colored  persons  were  citizens  in  the 
States  where  they  were  not  enfranchised,  and  he  insolently 
inquired  why  a  man  should  be  educated  who  could  not  be  a 


HOSTILITY  TO  COLORED  SCHOOLS.  245 

freeman.  She  was  defended  with  signal  ability.  Though 
Judge  Eaton  charged  that  he  regarded  the  law  as  constitu 
tional,  the  jury  failed  to  return  a  verdict  for  conviction.  It 
was  understood  that  seven  were  for  it,  and  five  were  for  ac 
quittal. 

Foiled  in  this  attempt  to  procure  conviction,  and  impatient 
of  delay,  the  prosecutors  of  the  suit,  refusing  to  wait  for  the 
December  term  of  the  same  court,  commenced  a  new  trial 
before  Judge  Daggett,  of  the  Supreme  Court.  The  judge,  a 
native  of  Massachusetts,  had  risen  rapidly  in  his  profession, 
had  served  in  the  United  States  Senate,  and  was  then  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Connecticut.  He  was  known 
to  have  little  sympathy  with  the  colored  people,  and  to  have 
been  an  advocate  of  the  new  law.  Of  course,  no  great  sur 
prise  was  felt  at  his  adverse  decision.  In  an  elaborate  opinion, 
he  maintained  the  constitutionality  of  the  law,  and  declared 
that  he  was  not  aware  that  free  blacks  were  styled  citizens  in 
the  laws  of  Congress,  or  of  any  of  the  States.  The  jury  ren 
dered  a  verdict  against  Miss  Crandall,  and  her  counsel  at  once 
filed  a  bill  of  exceptions  and  appealed  the  case.  Before  the 
highest  tribunal  her  cause  was  argued  in  July,  1834.  That 
court,  however,  decided  that  the  case  ought  to  be  quashed  for 
legal  informality,  and  tamely  evaded  the  constitutional  ques 
tion  by  declaring  it  "  unnecessary  for  the  court  to  come  to 
any  decision  on  the  question  as  to  the  constitutionality  of  the 
law." 

Soon  after  this  failure  an  unsuccessful  attempt  was  made  to 
burn  Miss  Crandall' s  house.  In  spite,  however,  of  persecu 
tions,  insults,  imprisonments,  and  the  attempt  to  destroy  her 
dwelling,  this  brave  woman  struggled  on  in  her  work  of  disin 
terested  benevolence.  But  her  enemies  were  determined  and 
implacable.  On  the  9th  of  September,  near  the  hour  of  mid 
night,  her  house  was  assaulted  with  clubs,  doors  and  windows 
were  broken  in,  and  the  building  left  nearly  untenantable. 
Her  few  friends,  having  been  invited  to  look  upon  the  scene 
of  desolation,  and  deeming  further  effort  unavailing,  if  not 
perilous  to  life  and  limb,  advised  the  abandonment  of  the 
enterprise.  Acting  upon  this  advice,  the  heroic  lady,  who  had 


246       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

breasted  and  braved  the  violence  of  the  mob  and  the  undis 
guised  intolerance  of  the  community  for  seventeen  months, 
disbanded  her  school,  and  sent  twenty  young  girls  to  their 
homes,  whose  only  offence,  their  enemies  being  judges,  was 
the  color  of  their  skin  and  their  strong  desire  to  learn.  Mr. 
May  states  that  when  he  gave  that  advice  the  words  blistered 
his  lips  and  his  bosom  glowed  with  indignation.  "  I  felt 
ashamed,"  he  said,  "  of  Canterbury,  ashamed  of  Connecticut, 
ashamed  of  my  country,  ashamed  of  my  color." 

It  is  in  the  light  of  such  facts  that  the  deep  degradation  and 
demoralization  reached  by  even  the  New  England  of  those 
days  appears,  when  not  only  the  demands  of  humanity  and 
religion  were  resisted,  but  the  peculiar  claims  of  womanhood 
and  childhood  were  rudely  and  roughly  ignored.  A  lonely  and, 
from  all  that  appears,  a  lovely  woman  of  culture  and  charac 
ter,  at  the  head  of  a  seminary  of  learning,  yields  to  the  impor 
tunity  of  a  colored  girl  of  seventeen  to  get  a  little  more  learn 
ing,  that  she  may  teach  the  children  of  her  race,  encounters 
the  rough  hostility  of  the  whole  community,  with  hardly  a  dis 
senting  voice  in  the  church  or  out  of  it,  and  is  compelled  to 
accept  the  cruel  alternative  of  turning  her  back,  or  of  relin 
quishing  the  patronage  of  those  on  the  faith  in  whom  she  em 
barked  her  all  and  ventured  on  the  enterprise.  The  scene 
shifts. 

A  new  act  in  the  drama,  a  real  tragedy,  without  its  blood, 
opens.  The  same  brave  woman,  true  to  her  convictions  and 
deaf  to  the  claims  of  selfish  fear  and  interest,  appears  upon 
the  stage  with  twenty  young  girls,  coming  up  from  as  many 
lonely  homes  of  a  proscribed  people,  anxious  to  learn.  To 
aid  them,  to  educate  twenty  immortal  minds  for  their  high 
mission  on  earth,  she  not  only  sacrifices  position  and  popular 
favor,  but  bows  beneath  the  crushing  weight  of  public  obloquy, 
and  hazards,  not  to  say  sacrifices,  her  pecuniary  means  without 
reserve.  And  what  had  the  public  of  Canterbury  and  Connec 
ticut  for  such  sublime  devotion  to  principle,  for  such  heroic 
self-sacrifice  ?  Social  ostracism,  personal  insult,  exclusion 
from  God's  house,  a  criminal  trial,  conviction  and  incarcera 
tion  in  a  murderer's  cell !  Nor  was  this  the  work  of  unprin- 


HOSTILITY   TO   COLORED   SCHOOLS. 


247 


cipled  politicians  and  fellows  of  the  baser  sort  alone,  The 
town  and  its  church,  the  county  and  its  court,  the  State  and 
its  legislature,  all  joined  in  this  dark  business  and  contributed 
to  this  sad  result. 

Do  questions  rush  to  the  lip  ?  How  could  such  things  hap 
pen  ?  How  could  there  be  philanthropy,  or  piety,  or  even 
common  honesty  and  humanity,  or  anything  but  barbarism, 
in  a  community  which  could  enact  or  tolerate  such  scenes  ? 
And  yet  there  may  have  been;  for  perfect  consistency  is  a 
"jewel"  rarely  found,  an  exotic  which  seldom  blooms  on  earth. 

And  yet  these  facts  are  both  a  puzzle  and  a  mortification, 
antagonistic  alike  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Decalogue  and  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  So  intensely  unchristian,  bar 
barous,  and  despotic,  they  provoke,  if  they  do  not  entirely 
justify,  the  severe  criticisms  against  both  the  Christianity  and 
republicanism  not  only  of  those  but  of  later  days.  For  these 
facts  were  but  representative  of  much  that  was  then  taking 
place  throughout  the  country,  and  which  afterward  trans 
pired. 

These  scenes  of  Canterbury  were  hardly  more  disgrace 
ful  than  those  which  were  witnessed  twenty  years  later  in 
Boston,  at  the  rendition  of  Anthony  Burns.  Andrew  T.  Jud- 
son,  commanding  the  silence  of  the  committee  appearing  in 
behalf  of  Miss  Crandall,  in  that  old  meeting-house  at  Can 
terbury,  was  no  more  an  instrument  of  the  Slave  Power 
than  was  Mr.  Webster,  years  afterward,  demanding  from  the 
steps  of  the  Revere  House,  in  Boston,  that  the  citizens  of  New 
England  should  "  learn  to  conquer  their  prejudices."  The 
trustees  of  that  church,  excluding  Prudence  Crandall  and  her 
pupils  from  the  house  of  God,  were  hardly  more  obnoxious 
to  just  condemnation  than  were  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  dis 
courses  and  "  South  Side  Views  "  of  subsequent  years.  They 
all  reveal  the  sad  truth  that  the  virus  of  slavery  was  coursing 
through  the  veins  of  the  body  politic,  destroying  its  healthy 
action,  weakening  its  powers  of  reason  and  conscience,  so  that 
the  language  of  the  prophet  seems  not  too  strong :  "  The 
whole  head  is  sick,  the  whole  heart  is  faint." 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

NATIONAL  ANTISL AVERT  CONVENTION  AT  PHILADELPHIA.  —  ORGAN 
IZATION  OF   THE   AMERICAN   ANTISLAVERY   SOCIETY. 

National  Antislavery  Convention  called.  —  Excited  Condition  of  the  Public 
Mind.  —  Conference  held  at  the  House  of  Evan  Lewis.  —  Assembling  of  the 
Convention.  —  Its  Officers.  —  Committee  on  the  Declaration  of  Sentiments.  — 
Resolutions.  —  Speeches  of  Lewis  Tappan,  Amos  A.  Phelps.  —  Female  Anti- 
slavery  Societies  recommended.  —  The  Constitution.  — The  Object  of  the  Socie 
ty  the  entire  Abolition  of  Slavery.  —  Conference  on  the  Declaration  of  Senti 
ments.  —  Words  of  Elizur  "Wright,  Jr.  —  Declaration  of  Sentiments  prepared 
by  Mr.  Garrison.  —  Reported  by  Mr.  Atlee.  —  The  Declaration  adopted.  —  Sig 
natures  to  the  Declaration.  —  Its  Doctrines.  —  Officers  of  the  Society,  Elizur 
Wright,  Jr.,  John  G.  Whittier,  Amos  A.  Phelps,  Theodore  D.  Weld,  Ellis  Gray 
Loring,  Robert  Purvis.  —  Increase  of  Auxiliary  Societies. 

*  THE  New  England  Antislavery  Society,  at  its  first  anniver 
sary,  adopted  a  resolution,  introduced  by  Mr.  Garrison,  in 
structing  its  board  of  managers  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  friends 
of  abolition  to  form  a  national  antislavery  society.  No  defi 
nite  action,  however,  was  taken. 

In  the  autumn  of  1833  Evan  Lewis,  a  member  of  the  Socie 
ty  of  Friends,  conductor  of  "  The  Friend,"  an  antislavery  jour 
nal  in  Philadelphia,  and  a  man  of  whom  it  was  said  "  he  was 
afraid  of  nothing  but  being  or  doing  wrong,"  visited  the  city 
of  New  York  to  persuade  leading  Abolitionists  to  unite  in  call 
ing  a  national  convention.  A  small  meeting  was  held,  at 
which,  after  considerable  discussion,  it  was  voted,  by  a  mere 
majority,  to  call  such  a  convention  at  Philadelphia,  on  the  4th 
of  the  following  December.  Many  Abolitionists,  however,  en 
tertained  serious  doubts  whether  the  time  had  come  for  hold 
ing  a  convention  for  that  purpose.  Nor  is  it  a  matter  of 
surprise  that  such  should  have  been  the  fact.  It  required 
principle,  nerve,  moral  courage,  and  a  martyr  spirit  thus 
to  lead  the  forlorn  hope  of  a  then  most  unpopular  cause ; 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ANTISLAVERY  SOCIETY.     249 

more  even  than  when,  under  the  cover  of  comparative  ob 
scurity,  the  New  England  society  was  organized.  It  was  a 
time,  too,  of  feverish  excitement,  exasperation,  and  intense 
bitterness  of  feeling,  word,  and  act ;  when  the  mob  violence  of 
the  street  was  but  the  counterpart  of  the  similar  though  more 
decorous  demonstrations  of  the  counting-room,  the  parlor,  and 
the  church.  The  Colonizationists  had  always  manifested  hostil 
ity  to  the  antislavery  cause.  Their  society  had  declared  in  1828, 
four  years  before  the  organization  of  the  New  England  Anti- 
slavery  Society,  that  "it  is  in  no  wise  allied  to  any  abolition 
society  in  America  or  elsewhere ;  and  is  ready,  when  there  is 
need,  to  pass  a  censure  upon  such  societies  in  America."  The 
organization  of  societies  pledged  to  immediate  emancipation, 
the  successful  visit  of  Mr.  Garrison  to  England,  his  unac 
cepted  challenge  of  their  champion  to  public  discussion,  the 
protest  of  Wilberforce  and  his  compeers  against  their  scheme, 
had  so  incensed  its  friends  that  even  professedly  Christian 
men  were  prepared  to  justify  a  resort  to  almost  any  measure 
to  oppose  and  put  down  what  they  deemed  a  pestilent  heresy. 
To  go  to  Philadelphia  at  such  a  time  and  on  such  an  errand 
was  anything  but  a  holiday  affair. 

On  the  evening  preceding  the  assembling  of  the  convention, 
a  meeting*  of  some  thirty  or  forty  delegates  was  held  at  the 
house  of  Evan  Lewis,  who  had  been  chiefly  instrumental  in  its 
convocation  at  that  time.  Lewis  Tappan  of  New  York  pre 
sided.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  secure  the  services  of 
some  well-known  citizen  and  philanthropist  of  Philadelphia  to 
preside  over  the  convention.  Thomas  Wister,  a  member  of 
the  Society  of  Friends,  declined  the  invitation.  The  commit 
tee  then  invited  Robert  Yaux,  of  the  same  denomination  ;  but 
he  declined,  though  an  Abolitionist.  As  the  committee  retired, 
not  a  little  mortified  and  irritated  at  their  ill  success,  Mr.  May, 
one  of  their  number,  reports  that  Beriah  Green  sarcastically 
remarked  :  "  If  there  is  not  timber  amongst  ourselves  big 
enough  to  make  a  president  of,  let  us  get  along  without  one,  or 
go  home  and  stay  there  till  we  have  grown  up  to  be  men." 

The  convention  assembled  at  the  Adelphi  Buildings,  on  the 
4th  of  December.  Beriah  Green  of  the  Oneida  Institute,  in 

32 


250        BISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

the  State  of  New  York,  was  elected  president ;  and  Lewis  Tap- 
pan  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  John  G.  Whittier  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  were  made  secretaries.  These  officers  were  thus 
pleasantly  characterized  by  Mr.  J.  Miller  McKim,  one  of  the 
youngest  members  of  the  convention,  and  ever  since  an  active 
Abolitionist. 

"  A  better  man  than  Mr.  Green  could  not  have  been  se 
lected.  Though  of  plain  exterior  and  unimposing  presence,  he 
was  a  man  of  learning  and  superior  ability  ;  in  every  way 
above  the  average  of  so-called  men  of  eminence.  Mr.  Tappan, 
who  sat  at  his  right,  was  a  jaunty,  maii-of-the-world  looking 
person,  well  dressed  and  handsome,  with  a  fine  voice  and  tak 
ing  appearance.  Whittier,  who  sat  at  his  left,  was  quite  as 
fine-looking,  though  in  a  different  way.  He  wore  a  dark  frock- 
coat  with  standing  collar,  which,  with  his  thin  hair,  dark  and 
sometimes  flashing  eyes,  and  black  whiskers,  —  not  large,  but 
noticeable  in  those  unhirsute  days,  —  gave  him,  to  my  then 
unpractised  eye,  quite  as  much  of  a  military  as  a  Quaker 
aspect.  His  broad,  square  forehead  and  well-cut  features, 
aided  by  his  incipient  reputation  as  a  poet,  made  him  quite  a 
noticeable  feature  in  the  convention." 

It  was  then  voted  that  delegates  from  antislavery  societies, 
and  all  other  persons  in  favor  of  emancipation  without  expa 
triation,  be  entitled  to  seats  in  the  convention.  Its  sessions 
continued  during  three  days.  The  members  were  admonished 
by  the  police  not  to  hold  evening  sessions,  as  they  could  not 
be  protected  after  dark.  Committees  were  appointed  to  pre 
pare  a  constitution,  nominate  a  list  of  officers,  and  draft  a 
declaration  of  principles,  to  which  the  signatures  of  mem 
bers  should  be  affixed.  That  committee  consisted  of  Dr.  Ed 
win  P.  Atlee  of  Philadelphia,  Elizur  Wright,  Jr.  of  New  York, 
William  Lloyd  Garrison  of  Massachusetts,  Simeon  S.  Jocelyn 
of  Connecticut,  David  Thurston  of  Maine,  John  M.  Sterling 
of  Ohio,  William  Green,  Jr.  of  New  York  City,  John  G.  Whit 
tier  of  Massachusetts,  William  Goodell  of  New  York,  and 
Samuel  J.  May  of  Connecticut. 

On  the  second  day  of  its  session  the  convention,  on  motion 
of  the  Rev.  Charles  W.  Denison,  editor  of  the  "  Enaancipa- 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ANTISLAVERY  SOCIETY.     251 

tor,"  voted  to  take  measures  to  ascertain  how  many  clergymen 
in  the  United  States  were  slaveholders  ;  and  a  committee  of 
three  was  chosen  to  carry  the  resolution  into  effect.  It  was 
then  moved  by  John  Rankin  of  New  York  that  the  thanks 
of  the  convention  be  extended  to  those  editors  who  have  em 
barked  in  the  cause  of  emancipation,  and  that  to  their  support 
in  the  good  work  the  members  pledge  their  individual  and 
collective  influence.  Upon  this  resolution  the  convention 
resolved  itself  into  a  committee  of  the  whole,  and  Mr.  James 
McCrummell,  a  colored  delegate  from  Philadelphia,  was  called 
to  the  chair.  President  Green  spoke  warmly  for  editors  who 
had  stood  erect  and  exposed  their  bosoms  to  the  shafts  which 
calumny  had  thrown.  "  They  have,"  he  said,  "  stood  out 
amidst  falling  missiles  and  jarring  notes  of  opposition  ;  and, 
like  trumpets,  lifted  up  their  voices  for  the  poor  and  needy, 
the  suffering  and  the  dumb."  He  expressed  to  them  his  grat 
itude,  and  avowed  his  willingness  to  present  his  own  "  bare 
bosom  to  the  foe,  and  receive  the  shafts  intended  for  them." 

Lewis  Tappan  followed  in  warm  and  eloquent  commenda 
tion  of  the  services  of  Benjamin  Lundy  and  William  Lloyd 
Garrison.  He  wished  the  members  of  the  convention  by  their 
action  to  show  to  posterity  that  the  men  contemplated  in  the 
resolution  were  held  in  high  esteem.  "  Although  they  are," 
he  said,  "  held  accursed  by  those  who  know  them  not,  and 
who  seek  to  impeach  their  motives  and  destroy  their  lives ; 
yet  the  coming  generations  shall  hallow  their  memories  and 
rise  up  and  call  them  blessed." 

Rev.  Amos  A.  Phelps  of  Massachusetts  earnestly  supported 
the  resolution.  He  referred  in  words  of  tender  eulogy  to  the 
Rev.  Charles  B.  Storrs,  late  president  of  the  Western  Reserve 
College,  who  had  recently  died  at  Braintree,  Massachusetts. 
He  stated  that  Mr.  Storrs,  while  lying  on  his  death-bed,  re 
quested  that  a  pen  should  be  placed  in  his  hands,  that  he  might 
affix  his  name  to  a  declaration  of  antislavery  principles  about  to 
be  issued.  "  He  commenced,"  said  Mr.  Phelps,  "  tracing  his 
name,  and  had  written  the  first  word,  '  Charles,'  when  he  dis 
covered  that  two  of  the  letters  had  been  transposed.  Letting 
the  pen  fall,  and  turning  to  his  brother,  standing  by,  he  ex- 


252        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

claimed,  with  an  energy  peculiar  to  him  :  '  I  can  write  no  more. 
Brother,  do  you  finish  my  name.  Those  principles  are  eternal 
truth.  They  cannot  be  shaken.  I  wish  to  give  to  them  my 
dying  testimony.' '  Mr.  Phelps  expressed  the  opinion  that  the 
death  of  President  Storrs  had  been  hastened  by  over-exertion 
in  delivering  an  address  of  great  vigor  and  power  of  more  than 
two  hours  in  length,  in  behalf  of  the  slave.  Mr.  Storrs  was  a 
gentleman  of  high  promise  and  scholarship,  of  Christian  prin 
ciple  and  earnest  philanthropy,  in  whose  untimely  death  free 
dom  lost  one  of  its  earliest  and  ablest  champions.  The  touch 
ing  scene  at  his  death-bed  is  one  among  the  evidences  that 
the  antislavery  struggle  in  this  country  was  born  of  a  zeal  and 
heroic  devotion  to  principle  which  finds  not  many  parallels  in 
the  world's  history. 

The  convention  having  unanimously  adopted  the  resolu 
tion,  Mr.  Denison  introduced  a  proposition  recommending  the 
youth  of  the  country,  without  distinction  of  sex,  to  form  aux 
iliary  antislavery  societies,  which  was  unanimously  adopted. 
A  resolution,  introduced  by  Robert  B.  Hall,  recommending 
that  the  Christian  church  throughout  the  land  should  observe 
the  last  Monday  evening  of  each  month  in  seeking  the  Divine 
aid  in  behalf  of  the  slave  and  of  the  free  people  of  color,  was 
then  unanimously  adopted  ;  as  was  also  another  resolution, 
introduced  by  Samuel  J.  May,  pledging  the  members  of  the 
convention  to  an  effort  to  secure  from  the  several  denomina 
tions  to  which  they  belonged  solemn  and  earnest  addresses 
in  behalf  of  the  oppressed  to  affiliated  churches  in  the  slave- 
holding  States. 

Mr.  Garrison  introduced  a  resolution  in  which  it  was 
declared  that  the  cause  of  abolition  eminently  deserved  the 
countenance  and  support  of  American  women  ;  and  Horace 
P.  Wakefield  of  Massachusetts  introduced  another,  hailing  the 
establishment  of  ladies'  antislavery  societies  as  the  harbinger 
of  a  brighter  day.  These  resolutions  were  also  unanimously 
adopted,  as  were  others,  declaring  that  the  fountains  of  knowl 
edge,  like  those  of  salvation,  should  be  opened  to  every  crea 
ture  ;  that  the  laws  against  teaching  colored  people  were  cruel 
and  impious ;  that  the  statutes  and  customs  which  withhold 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ANTISLAVERY  SOCIETY.     253 

the  Bible  from  the  slave  were  inconsistent  with  the  first  prin 
ciples  of  religious  liberty ;  and  that  the  teachers  of  religion 
who  failed  to  lift  the  warning  voice  against  oppression  did  not 
declare  the  whole  counsel  of  God.  Kindred  resolutions,  breath 
ing  the  spirit  of  liberty,  justice,  humanity,  and  Christianity, 
were  adopted  with  great  unanimity. 

In  the  constitution  adopted,  the  object  of  the  society  was 
declared  to  be  the  entire  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  United 
States.  While  admitting  that  each  State  had  exclusive  right 
to  legislate  in  regard  to  its  abolition,  it  avowed  as  its  aim  to 
convince  the  people  of  the  slave  States,  by  arguments  addressed 
to  their  understandings  and  consciences,  that  slaveholding  was 
a  heinous  crime  against  God,  and  that  duty  and  safety  re 
quired  its  immediate  abandonment,  but  without  expatriation. 
It  favored  the  abolition  of  the  domestic  slave-trade  and  of  slav 
ery  in  the  District  of  Columbia ;  and  urged  the  duty  of  elevat 
ing  the  character  and  condition  of  the  free  people  of  color,  and 
of  giving  them  equality  with  whites  in  civil  and  religious  privi 
leges,  though  it  discountenanced  any  resort  to  physical  force 
for  the  vindication  of  these  rights. 

But  the  most  important  action  of  the  convention  was  its 
declaration  of  principles.  A  committee  of  ten  had  been  ap 
pointed  on  the  first  day  of  the  session  to  prepare  such  a  paper. 
That  committee,  with  several  other  members,  assembled  at  the 
rooms  of  the  chairman.  Those  present  were  invited  to  state 
their  views  concerning  the  document  which  all  deemed  so  im 
portant.  The  suggestions  made  revealed  great  unanimity  of 
opinion.  The  Rev.  Samuel  J.  May  states,  in  his  "  Recollections 
of  the  Antislavery  Conflict,"  that  Elizur  Wright,  Jr.,  gave  utter 
ance  to  these  pregnant  words :  "  I  wish  that  the  difference  be 
tween  our  purpose  and  that  of  the  Colonization  Society  should 
be  explicitly  stated.  We  mean  to  exterminate  slavery  from 
our  country,  with  its  accursed  influences.  The  Colonization- 
ists  only  wish  to  get  rid  of  the  slaves  so  soon  as  they  be 
come  free.  Their  plan  is  unrighteous,  cruel,  and  impracti 
cable  withal.  Our  plan  needs  but  a  good  will  and  a  right 
spirit  among  the  white  people  to  accomplish  it." 

After  some  time  spent  in  this  conference,  Mr.  Garrison,  Mr. 


254       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

Whittier,  and  Mr.  May  were  appointed  a  sub-committee  to  pre 
pare  a  draft  of  a  paper  setting  forth  the  principles,  sentiments, 
and  purposes  of  the  new  society.  The  sub-committee  immedi 
ately  repaired  to  Mr.  Garrison's  lodgings ;  and,  after  a  brief 
consultation,  he  was  requested  to  prepare  it.  The  sub-com 
mittee  met  early  next  morning,  made  a  few  slight  altera 
tions,  and  submitted  the  draft  to  the  whole  committee  at 
nine  o'clock.  Alluding  to  this  circumstance,  years  after,  Mr. 
Whittier  thus  happily  refers  to  this  meeting :  "  I  recall  the 
early  gray  morning  when,  with  Samuel  J.  May,  our  colleague 
on  the  committee  to  prepare  a  declaration  of  sentiments  for 
the  convention ,  I  climbed  to  the  small t  upper  chamber  '  of  a 
colored  friend  to  hear  thee  read  the  first  draft  of  a  paper  which 
will  live  as  long  as  our  national  history." 

For  hours  this  document  was  subjected  to  a  careful  and  criti 
cal  examination  ;  yet  but  few  alterations  were  found  necessary. 
Mr.  Garrison  had  arraigned  the  Colonization  Society  with 
characteristic  severity.  But  his  strictures  were  omitted,  on 
motion  of  Mr.  May,  for  the  reason  that  the  Colonization  So 
ciety  could  not  long  survive  the  deadly  blows  already  aimed 
at  it ;  and  it  was  not  worth  while  to  perpetuate  its  memory 
in  this  declaration  of  the  rights  of  man.  This  omission 
was  resisted  by  Mr.  Garrison  ;  but,  finding  the  committee 
were  favorable  to  it,  he  promptly  yielded,  with  the  remark, 
"  Brethren,  it  is  your  report,  not  mine." 

Edwin  P.  Atlee,  chairman  of  the  committee,  reported  the 
declaration  to  the  convention.  Its  reading  produced  a  pro 
found  impression.  It  was  then  moved  by  a  member  of  the 
Society  of  Friends  that  it  be  adopted,  and  that  the  members 
proceed  at  once  to  append  to  it  their  signatures.  "  We  have," 
he  said,  "  already  given  it  our  assent ;  every  heart  here  has 
responded  to  it.  There  is  a  doctrine  of  the  Friends  which 
impelled  me  to  make  the  motion  I  have  done.  First  impres 
sions  are  from  heaven.  I  fear,  if  we  go  about  criticising  and 
amending  this  declaration,  we  shall  qualify  its  truthfulness  and 
impair  its  strength."  But  the  convention  thought  otherwise. 
It  was  read  paragraph  by  paragraph,  and  discussed  for  several 
hours ;  very  few  changes,  however,  were  made.  The  venera- 


OKGANIZATION  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ANTISLAVERY  SOCIETY.     255 

ble  Thomas  Shipley,  a  Quaker,  and  a  long-tried  friend  of  the 
black  man,  objected  to  the  word  "  manstealer,"  as  applied  to 
the  slaveholder ;  but  it  was  suggested  by  Lucretia  Mott  that  the 
term  be  retained,  with  an  amendment  inserting  before  it  the 
words  "  according  to  Scripture,"  and  the  suggestion  was 
adopted.  The  document,  with  this  slight  modification,  was 
then  unanimously  adopted. 

Thus  far  the  convention  had  been  a  success.  Its  numbers, 
its  character,  its  harmony,  and  its  enthusiasm  were  animating 
and  auspicious.  But  its  hours  of  deliberation  and  conference 
were  over.  Agreeing  among  themselves,  their  great  work 
was  now  to  convince  others.  Framing  a  platform  on  which 
they  could  stand,  they  were  to  go  forth,  and,  in  a  conservative 
and  captious  community,  make  proselytes  who  would  occupy  it 
with  them.  Happily  blinded  to  the  severity  and  the  length  of 
the  contest  on  which  they  were  entering,  they  went  forth  con 
fident  in  the  power  of  truth  and  in  the  favor  of  the  Almighty. 

On  the  morning  of  the  third  day  the  declaration,  which 
had  in  the  mean  time  been  engrossed,  was  submitted  for  signa 
tures  ;  and  upon  it  sixty-two  members,  representing  ten  States, 
enrolled  their  names.  Lucretia  Mott,  Esther  Moore,  Lydia 
White,  Sydney  Ann  Lewis,  and  several  other  Quaker  women 
of  Philadelphia,  were,  after  the  first  day,  in  constant  attend 
ance  on  the  convention,  and  were  deeply  interested  in  its 
work.  But  their  names  were  not  enrolled  as  members,  nor 
appended  to  its  declaration  of  principles.  While  that  declara 
tion,  however,  was  under  consideration,  Mrs.  Mott,  a  woman 
of  fine  intellectual  development,  with  a  rare  combination  of 
firmness,  gentleness,  and  clear  moral  perceptions,  rose  and, 
remarking  that  she  was  there  by  sufferance,  said  that,  if  per 
mitted,  she  would  make  a  suggestion.  She  paused  for  a  mo 
ment,  as  if  unwilling  to  offend  even  the  prejudices  of  any 
of  its  members,  when  President  Green  promptly,  and  in  a 
voice  at  once  cordial  and  encouraging,  bade  her  go  on,  while 
others  seconded  his  words.  She  suggested  several  modifica 
tions,  and  gave  the  reasons  why  they  should  be  made  with  such 
clearness  and  precision  that  they  were  readily  assented  to. 

The  declaration  was  a  paper  of  great  ability  and  power,  — 


256        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

the  power  of  timely  truth  and  of  appropriate  and  forcible 
expression.  Commencing  with  a  reference  to  the  time,  fifty- 
seven  years  before,  when,  in  the  same  city  of  Philadelphia, 
our  fathers  announced  to  the  world  their  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence,  based  on  the  self-evident  truths  of  human  equality 
and  rights,  and  appealed  to  arms  for  its  defence,  it  spoke  of 
the  new  enterprise  as  one  "  without  which  that  of  our  fathers 
is  incomplete,"  and  as  transcending  theirs  in  magnitude,  so 
lemnity,  and  probable  results,  as  much  "  as  moral  truth  does 
physical  force."  It  spoke  of  the  difference  of  the  two  in  the 
means  and  ends  proposed,  and  of  the  trifling  grievances  of 
our  fathers,  compared  with  the  wrongs  and  sufferings  of  the 
slaves,  which  it  forcibly  characterized  as  unequalled  by  any 
others  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  It  claimed  that  the  nation 
was  bound  to  repent  at  once,  to  let  the  oppressed  go  free,  and 
to  admit  them  to  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  others  ;  be 
cause,  it  asserted,  no  man  has  a  right  to  enslave  or  imbrute 
his  brother ;  because  liberty  is  inalienable  ;  because  there  is 
no  difference,  in  principle,  between  slaveholding  and  mansteal- 
ing,  which  the  law  brands  as  piracy ;  and  because  no  length 
of  bondage  can  invalidate  man's  claim  to  himself,  or  render 
slave  laws  anything  but  "  an  audacious  usurpation." 

It  maintained  that  no  compensation  should  be  given  to 
planters  emancipating  slaves,  because  that  would  be  a  surren 
der  of  fundamental  principles  ;  because  "  slavery  is  a  crime, 
and  is,  therefore,  not  an  article  to  be  sold  "  ;  because  slave 
holders  are  not  just  proprietors  of  what  they  claim ;  because 
emancipation  would  destroy  only  nominal,  not  real  property  ; 
and  because  compensation,  if  given  at  all,  should  be  given  to 
the  slaves. 

It  declared  "  any  scheme  of  expatriation  "  to  be  "  delusive, 
cruel,  and  dangerous."  It  fully  recognized  the  right  of  each 
State  to  legislate  exclusively  on  the  subject  of  slavery  within 
its  limits,  and  conceded  that  Congress,  under  the  present  na 
tional  compact,  had  no  right  to  interfere  ;  though  still  con 
tending  that  it  had  the  power,  and  should  exercise  it,  "  to 
suppress  the  domestic  slave-trade  between  the  several  States," 
and  "  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  in 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ANTISL AVERT  SOCIETY.     257 

those  portions  of  our  territory  which  the  Constitution  has 
placed  under  its  exclusive  jurisdiction."  Having  thus  clearly 
and  cogently  announced  the  principles  of  the  enterprise  thus 
solemnly  undertaken  and  avowed  ;  having  guarded  with  scru 
pulous  care  against  all  infringement  of  the  personal  or  consti 
tutional  rights  of  any  person  or  State,  it  closed  with  the  fol 
lowing  eloquent  portrayal  of  the  obligations  still  admitted,  the 
agencies  to  be  employed,  with  a  pledge  of  unswerving  fidelity 
to  the  work  undertaken,  and  an  unwavering  trust  in  the  guid 
ing  hand  and  final  blessing  of  God  :  — 

"  We  also  maintain  that  there  are,  at  the  present  time,  the 
highest  obligations  resting  upon  the  people  of  the  free  States 
to  remove  slavery  by  moral  and  political  action,  as  prescribed 
in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  They  are  now  liv 
ing  under  a  pledge  of  their  tremendous  physical  force  to  fasten 
the  galling  fetters  of  tyranny  upon  the  limbs  of  millions  in 
the  Southern  States ;  they  are  liable  to  be  called  at  any  mo 
ment  to  suppress  a  general  insurrection  of  the  slaves  ;  they 
authorize  the  slave-owner  to  vote  on  three-fifths  of  his  slaves 
as  property,  and  thus  enable  him  to  perpetuate  his  oppression  ; 
they  support  a  standing  army  at  the  South  for  its  protection; 
and  they  seize  the  slave  who  has  escaped  into  their  territories, 
and  send  him  back  to  be  tortured  by  an  enraged  master  or  a 
brutal  driver.  This  relation  to  slavery  is  criminal,  and  full  of 
danger  ;  IT  MUST  BE  BROKEN  UP. 

"  These  are  our  views  and  principles,  —  these  our  designs 
and  measures.  With  entire  confidence  in  the  overruling  jus 
tice  of  God,  we  plant  ourselves  upon  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  and  the  truths  of  Divine  revelation  as  upon  the  ever 
lasting  rock. 

"  We  shall  organize  antislavery  societies,  if  possible,  in  every 
city,  town,  and  village  in  our  land. 

"  We  shall  send  forth  agents  to  lift  up  the  voice  of  remon 
strance,  of  warning,  of  entreaty  and  rebuke. 

"  We  shall  circulate  unsparingly  and  extensively  antislav 
ery  tracts  and  periodicals. 

"  We  shall  enlist  the  pulpit  and  the  press  in  the  cause  of  the 
suffering  and  the  dumb. 

33 


258        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

"  We  shall  aim  at  a  purification  of  the  churches  from  all 
participation  in  the  guilt  of  slavery. 

"  We  shall  encourage  the  labor  of  freemen,  rather  than  that 
of  slaves,  by  giving  a  preference  to  their  productions  ;  and 

"  We  shall  spare  no  exertions  nor  means  to  bring  the  whole 
nation  to  speedy  repentance. 

"  Our  trust  for  victory  is  solely  in  God.  We  may  be  per 
sonally  defeated,  but  our  principles  never.  TRUTH,  JUSTICE, 
REASON,  HUMANITY,  must  and  will  gloriously  triumph.  Al 
ready  a  host  is  coming  up  to  the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the 
mighty,  and  the  prospect  before  us  is  full  of  encouragement. 

"  Submitting  this  DECLARATION  to  the  candid  examina 
tion  of  the  people  of  this  country,  and  of  the  friends  of  Liberty 
throughout  the  world,  we  hereby  affix  our  signatures  to  it ; 
pledging  ourselves  that,  under  the  guidance  and  by  the  help 
of  Almighty  God,  we  will  do  all  that  in  us  lies,  consistently 
with  this  declaration  of  our  principles,  to  overthrow  the  most 
execrable  system  of  slavery  that  has  ever  been  witnessed  upon 
earth,  to  deliver  our  land  from  its  deadliest  curse,  to  wipe  out 
the  foulest  stain  which  rests  upon  our  national  escutcheon, 
and  to  secure  to  the  colored  population  of  the  United  States 
all  the  rights  and  privileges  which  belong  to  them  as  men  and 
as  Americans,  come  what  may  to  our  persons,  our  interests,  or 
our  reputation  ;  whether  we  live  to  witness  the  triumph  of 
LIBERTY,  JUSTICE,  and  HUMANITY,  or  perish  untimely  as  mar 
tyrs  in  this  great,  benevolent,  and  holy  cause." 

The  president  of  the  convention  made  a  closing  address. 
Profound  silence  pervaded  the  hall  as  he  rapidly  glanced  at 
the  great  work  which  had  been  accomplished.  He  referred  to 
the  constitution  of  the  new  society,  to  its  list  of  officers,  to  the 
signing  and  the  sending  forth  to  the  world  of  its  Declaration 
of  Sentiments,  to  the  union  and  earnestness  which  had  marked 
the  proceedings,  and  to  the  meeting  of  congenial  minds,  where 
heart  had  beat  responsive  to  heart  in  the  holy  work  of  seeking 
to  benefit  the  outraged  and  despised  colored  race.  He  closed 
his  speech  —  which  for  eloquence  and  thrilling  power  will 
never  be  forgotten  by  those  who  heard  it  —  with  these  words 
of  heroic  self-sacrifice,  faith,  and  trust :  — 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ANTISLAVERY  SOCIETY.     259 

"  But  now  we  must  retire  from  these  balmy  influences,  and 
breathe  another  atmosphere.  The  chill  hoar-frost  will  be 
upon  us.  The  storm  and  tempest  will  rise,  and  the  waves  of 
persecution  will  dash  against  our  souls.  Let  us  be  prepared 
for  the  worst.  Let  us  fasten  ourselves  to  the  throne  of  God 
as  with  hooks  of  steel.  If  we  cling  not  to  Him,  our  names  to 
that  document  will  be  but  as  dust. 

"  Let  us  court  no  applause  ;  indulge  in  no  spirit  of  vain 
boasting.  Let  us  be  assured  that  our  only  hope  in  grappling 
with  the  bony  monster  is  in  an  Arm  that  is  stronger  than 
ours.  Let  us  fix  our  gaze  on  God,  and  walk  in  the  light  of 
his  countenance.  If  our  cause  be  just,  and  we  know  it  is, 
his  omnipotence  is  pledged  to  its  triumph.  Let  this  cause 
be  intwined  around  the  very  fibres  of  our  hearts.  Let  our 
hearts  grow  to  it,  so  that  nothing  but  death  can  sunder  the 
bond." 

Having  finished  his  address,  he  "  immediately,"  to  use  the 
words  of  one  who  heard  him,  "  lifted  up  his  voice  to  the 
Throne  of  Heavenly  Grace  in  a  prayer  full  of  fervor  and  zeal, 
imploring  the  forgiveness  and  blessing  of  God  to  descend  and 
sanctify  the  convention." 

Such  were  the  origin  and  organization  of  the  American  Anti- 
slavery  Society.  Its  board  of  officers  embraced  many  men  of 
marked  ability,  as  well  as  of  recognized  position  and  influence. 
Arthur  Tappan  was  chosen  president,  and  gave  to  the  new  as 
sociation,  not  only  the  benefit  of  his  warm  devotion  to  the 
cause,  but  his  great  practical  sagacity  and  prestige  as  a  lead 
ing  merchant  of  New  York. 

Elizur  Wright,  Jr.,  then  of  the  same  city,  was  made  secre 
tary  of  domestic  correspondence,  and  continued  in  that  posi 
tion  till  1838.  He  was  also  a  member,  ex  qfficio,  of  the  execu 
tive  committee.  Its  annual  reports,  with  slight  contributions 
from  others,  were  from  his  pen,  and  constitute  an  important 
part  of  the  antislavery  literature  of  the  five  eventful  years  in 
which  he  filled  the  office.  Mr.  Wright  held  a  bold  and  incisive 
pen,  which  he  ever  wielded  in  the  interests  of  humanity.  If 
his  words  were  sometimes  curt  and  caustic,  they  were  always 
vigorous  and  effective  ;  and  if  he  was  sometimes  impulsive  and 


260       RISE   AND   FALL    OF   THE    SLAVE   POWER   IN   AMERICA. 

impracticable,  there  was  always  an  air  of  refreshing  boldness 
and  honesty  in  what  he  said  and  did. 

Dr.  Abraham  L.  Cox  of  New  York  was  made  recording  sec 
retary.  He  was  earnest,  industrious,  impulsive,  energetic  ;  but 
not,  like  his  compeers  of  that  day,  persistent  and  unflinching. 
Mr.  Garrison  was  selected  as  secretary  of  foreign  correspond 
ence.  For  this  post  he  was  eminently  fitted  by  his  knowledge 
of  antislavery  leaders  abroad,  as  also  by  their  recognition  of 
him  as  the  foremost  among  the  Abolitionists  of  this  country. 

There  were  twenty-five  vice-presidents.  Among  them  were 
the  venerable  Moses  Brown  of  Rhode  Island,  an  early  Aboli 
tionist  and  philanthropist,  whose  well-directed  munificence 
was  largely  bestowed  upon  and  most  honorably  associated  with 
the  University  of  that  State ;  General  Samuel  Fessenden  of 
Maine,  a  distinguished  lawyer  and  a  consistent  Christian 
statesman ;  and  Rev.  Samuel  J.  May,  who  was  among  the 
earliest  to  espouse  the  then  hated  cause  of  immediate  eman 
cipation,  and  who  for  forty  years  was  indefatigable  in  his 
labors  for  freedom,  devoting  without  faltering  his  talents, 
learning,  social  and  ecclesiastical  influence,  to  its  advocacy 
and  defence. 

There  was  also  a  large  board  of  managers,  embracing  sev 
eral  gentlemen  who  had  then  and  who  have  since  taken  an 
important  part  in  the  great  struggle.  Perhaps  none  have  been 
more  distinguished  for  their  persistent  and  painstaking  zeal 
than  were  the  brothers  Arthur  and  Lewis  Tappan,  William 
Goodell,  and  Joshua  Leavitt,  whose  generous  and  effective 
labors  are  more  particularly  referred  to  in  another  connection. 

There,  too,  was  John  G.  Whittier,  the  Quaker  bard,  who 
early  consecrated  his  genius  to  the  cause  of  humanity,  when 
to  be  an  Abolitionist  was  to  lose  caste  in  church  and  state,  so 
ciety  and  literature.  How  much  he  did,  and  how  nobly  and 
beautifully  he  did  it,  will  be  among  the  most  grateful  recollec 
tions  of  that  stern  strife.  That  he  was  the  right  man  in  the 
right  place  may  be  well  conjectured  from  his  own  testimony, 
thirty  years  later,  when,  alluding  to  his  signature  of  the  "  Dec 
laration  of  Sentiments,' '  he  could  say,  though  wearing  the 
green  chaplet  of  poetic  fame,  with  which  two  hemispheres  had 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ANTISLAVERY  SOCIETY.    26l 

admiringly  crowned  him :  "  I  love,  perhaps  too  well,  the  praise 
and  good- will  of  my  fellow-men ;  but  I  set  a  higher  value  on 
my  name  as  appended  to  the  Antislavery  Declaration  of  1833 
than  on  the  title-page  of  any  book.  Looking  over  a  life  marked 
with  many  errors  and  shortcomings,  I  rejoice  that  I  have  been 
able  to  maintain  the  pledge  of  that  signature,  and  that  in  the 
long  intervening  years 

"  '  My  voice,  though  not  the  loudest,  has  been  heard 
Wherever  Freedom  raised  her  cry  of  pain.'  " 

Unlike  most  of  his  coadjutors  of  that  day,  he  had  clear  con 
ceptions  of  the  political  bearings  of  slavery.  As  editor  of  the 
"  Pennsylvania  Freeman,"  associate  editor  of  the  "  National 
Era,"  and  a  contributor  to  other  antislavery  journals,  he  did 
much  to  prepare  the  minds  of  the  people  for  political  action. 
In  counsel  and  action  always  sagacious  and  practical,  he  par 
ticipated  in  those  movements  which  finally  resulted  in  the 
organization  of  that  powerful  party  which  overthrew  the  sys 
tem  of  human  bondage  and  dethroned  the  Slave  Power.  In 
those  early  days,  "  the  clarion  notes  from  his  muse,"  in  the 
words  of  Henry  B.  Stanton,  "  were  like  the  inspired  appeals 
of  the  Hebrew  prophets,  summoning  the  elect  of  God  to  do 
battle  with  the  powers  of  darkness."  All  along  the  struggle, 
too,  these  lyrics  of  the  meek-visaged  but  fiery-souled  Quaker 
rang  out  their  notes  of  warning  and  appeal.  And  even  after 
rebellion  had  convulsed  the  land,  and  civil  war  had  summoned 
its  legions  to  the  field,  his  strains  were  heard  amid  the  din  of 
strife,  and  the  loyal  soldier  often  felt  their  inspiration  in  the 
camp,  on  the  march,  and  in  the  hour  of  battle. 

Rev.  Amos  A.  Phelps  was  another  member  of  the  board,  who 
afterward  evinced  the  sincerity  and  strength  of  his  devotion 
by  leaving  an  eligible  position  as  pastor  of  a  city  congregation, 
to  labor  exclusively  for  the  lowly  and  oppressed.  A  logical 
speaker  and  vigorous  writer,  he  rendered  invaluable  service  to 
the  cause  of  emancipation  in  the  earlier  stages  of  its  history. 
A  volume  of  lectures  was  published  by  him  in  the  year  1834, 
in  which  questions  connected  with  slavery  were  elaborately 
discussed,  and  an  earnest  appeal  was  made  to  the  clergy  of  all 
denominations.  This  work  continued  for  a  long  time  a  text- 


262        RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

book  for  antislavery  speakers* and  writers.  From  tins  time 
onward  he  labored  assiduously  and  earnestly,  till  the  time  of 
his  premature  death,  which  occurred  in  1847.  He,  however, 
not  only  died  without  being  permitted  to  see  the  harvest  of  the 
seed  he  had  so  faithfully  sown,  but  he  fell  at  his  post  in  that 
dark  hour  when  the  nation,  under  the  inspiration  and  behests 
of  the  Slave  Power,  was  fighting  ingloriously  on  a  foreign  soil 
to  extend  and  perpetuate  the  very  system  he  had  labored  so 
faithfully  to  limit  and  extirpate. 

Theodore  D.  Weld,  perhaps  the  youngest  member  of  the 
board,  was  a  descendant  of  Jonathan  Edwards  and  then  a 
member  of  Lane  Seminary.  He  was  one  of  the  members  who 
were  involved  in  the  conflict  with  its  Faculty  which  then  and 
afterward  assumed  so  much  of  historic  interest  in  the  annals 
of  the  antislavery  struggle.  A  cogent  reasoner  and  a  glowing 
rhetorician,  he  was  esteemed  one  of  the  most  powerful  plat 
form  speakers  of  his  day.  He  was  the  author  of  several  re 
markable  productions.  Among  them  were  "  The  Bible  Yiew 
of  Slavery,"  "  Slavery  as  it  is,"  and  "  The  Power  of  Congress 
over  Slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,"  which  exerted  a 
marked  influence  over  the  thoughtful,  pious,  and  humane.  In 
1838  and  1839  he  was  associated,  at  the  office  in  New  York, 
with  John  G.  Whittier  and  Henry  B.  Stan  ton  in  securing  and 
forwarding  to  Congress  antislavery  petitions  for  the  abolition 
of  slavery  and  the  slave-trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
which  so  excited  the  ire  of  its  Southern  members. 

There,  too,  was  Benjamin  Lundy,  the  early  and  ever-vigilant 
and  faithful  friend  of  the  slave  ;  and  Isaac  Knapp,  a  silent  but 
efficient  worker,  the  coadjutor  of  Mr.  Garrison  in  the  publica 
tion  of  the  "  Liberator."  There  were  also  Ellis  Gray  Loring, 
David  Lee  Child,  and  Samuel  E.  Sewall,  learned  and  accom 
plished  lawyers  of  Boston,  whose  early  consecration  of  personal 
and  professional  service  to  the  cause  of  abolition  was  followed 
by  a  life-long  and  consistent  devotion  to  the  interests  of  the 
slave.  Mr.  Loring  died  too  early  to  see  the  glorious  consum 
mation  which  now  gladdens  the  sight  of  many  of  his  early 
coadjutors.  Upon  that  list,  too,  was  the  name  of  Dr.  Jacob 
Ide  of  Massachusetts,  who,  then  in  the  prime  of  his  powers 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ANTISLAVERY  SOCIETY.    263 

and  influence,  made  this  public  commitment,  from  which  he 
never  afterward  swerved.  While  too  many  of  his  clerical 
brethren,  at  least,  remained  silent  in  the  presence  of  this  giant 
iniquity,  his  voice  and  commanding  influence  were  ever  true 
to  the  cause  of  the  slave.  Robert  Purvis  of  Philadelphia, 
a  young  colored  gentleman  of  talents  and  culture,  was  also  a 
member.  Feeling  in  his  own  person  the  wrongs  of  his  breth 
ren,  he  labored  long  and  earnestly,  with  fiery  zeal  and  fer 
vid  eloquence,  to  lift  the  heavy  burden  from  his  race. 

The  executive  committee  engaged  an  office  in  New  York  City, 
and  at  once  entered  upon  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  its  work. 
Arthur  Tappan,  president  of  the  society,  subscribed  three  thou 
sand  dollars  ;  John  Rankin,  likewise  a  merchant  of. New  York, 
subscribed  twelve  hundred  ;  Lewis  Tappan,  one  thousand ;  and 
other  members  and  friends  lesser  sums,  payable  annually. 
The  "  Emancipator  "  was  put  upon  a  firmer  basis,  under  the 
editorship  of  William  Goodell,  and  publications  in  various 
forms  were  circulated  with  unstinted  liberality.  The  society 
rapidly  increased  in  numbers,  strength,  and  influence.  Its 
lecturers  and  agents,  newspapers  and  occasional  publications, 
instructed  and  aroused  the  country.  Auxiliaries,  adopting  its 
principles,  were  rapidly  organized  ;  so  that  they  numbered  six 
teen  hundred  and  fifty,  with  a  membership  of  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  million,  at  the  time  of  its  disruption. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

LANE   SEMINARY.  —  ANTISLAVERY  ACTION. 

Antislavery  Debate  at  Lane  Seminary.  —  Action  of  the  Trustees.  —  Antislavery 
Students  dissolve  their  Connection  with  the  Institution.  —  Offer  of  the  Ameri 
can  Antislavery  Society  to  give  the  Bible  to  Slaves.  —  Conduct  of  Managers  of 
the  Bible  Society.  —  Abolitionists  mobbed  in  New  York.  —  Address  issued  by 
the  Abolitionists.  —  Address  of  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society.  —  Doc 
trines  of  the  Abolitionists.  —  Abolitionists  arraigned  in  the  Annual  Message 
of  President  Jackson.  —  Reply  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society.  —  Activity 
of  the  Abolitionists.  —  Rapid  Increase  in  Numbers. 

THESE  appeals  of  the  new  antislavery  societies  at  once  ar 
rested  public  attention,  though  that  attention  oftener  assumed 
the  form  of  opposition  than  of  acquiescence.  Among  the  first 
to  give  this  public  recognition  were  the  students  of  Lane 
Seminary,  of  which  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  was  president  and 
Dr.  Calvin  E.  Stowe  a  professor.  Its  students,  several  of 
whom  were  the  sons  of  Southern  slaveholders,  were  of  unusual 
maturity  of  age  and  character.  Soon  after  the  formation  of 
the  American  Antislavery  Society,  an  auxiliary  was  formed  in 
the  seminary,  embracing  most  of  its  members.  Two  of  the 
number,  Henry  B.  Stanton,  and  James  A.  Thome  of  Kentucky, 
attended  the  anniversary  meeting  of  the  parent  society  at  New 
York,  in  the  spring  of  1834,  at  which  they  made  speeches  ex 
citing  great  interest  and  sanguine  hopes,  which  were  more 
than  redeemed  by  their  subsequent  career. 

In  the  winter  of  1834  -  35  a  debate  on  the  slavery  question 
took  place,  lasting  more  than  a  dozen  evenings,  of  which  Mr. 
Stanton  occupied  two  with  remarkable  eloquence  and  effect. 
Several  other  students  participated  in  the  debate  with  signal 
ability.  But  the  great  orator  of  that  great  debate,  as  conceded 
by  all,  was  Theodore  D.  Weld.  Subsequently,  nearly  all  the 
students  adopted  antislavery  views.  Dr.  Beecher  promised  to 


LANE   SEMINARY.  —  ANTISL AVERT   ACTION.  265 

attend  the  meetings,  though  he  did  not  do  so.  It  is  said  that 
he  was  much  affected  when  he  found  the  main  body  of  the 
students  adopting  sentiments  which  he  foresaw,  or  at  least 
apprehended,  must  bring  them  into  collision  with  the  board  of 
trustees,  threatening  the  material  injury  if  not  the  destruction 
of  the  institution.  The  debate  caused  much  excitement,  not 
only  in  Cincinnati,  but  throughout  the  country.  The  trustees 
ordered  the  disbandment  of  the  Antislavery  Society,  though 
accompanying  the  order  with  a  similar  requirement  of  the 
Colonization  Society.  Their  real  and  avowed  purpose  was  to 
frown  upon  and  check  agitation  concerning  slavery  in  the 
seminary.  The  antislavery  students,  feeling  that  they  could 
not,  consistently  with  their  self-respect  and  convictions,  re 
main  in  the  institution,  dissolved  their  connection  with  it. 
Before,  however,  taking  this  step,  they  issued  an  elaborate  and 
eloquent  protest  against  the  policy  adopted  ;  and  then,  as  per 
secution  sent  the  apostles  abroad  to  preach  the  gospel,  so  it 
sent  these  young  ministers  of  the  gospel  to  proclaim  the  new 
evangel  of  liberty.  Several  of  them  labored  faithfully  for  longer 
or  shorter  periods  ;  but  none  rendered  services  more  brilliant 
and  effective  than  Theodore  D.  Weld  and  Henry  B.  Stanton. 

The  first  anniversary  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society 
was  held  in  New  York  on  the  6th  of  May,  1834.  It  was  largely 
attended,  and  its  proceedings  were  spirited  and  harmonious. 
An  overture  made  at  this  meeting  to  the  American  Bible  So 
ciety  subsequently  revealed  not  only  the  lack  of  sympathy  with 
their  humane  object  on  the  part  of  the  latter,  but  the  opposi 
tion  and  the  rudeness  of  its  exhibition,  even  by  men  standing 
high  in  the  church.  The  Bible  Society,  having  been  engaged 
in  carrying  out  the  project  of  supplying  every  family  in  the 
United  States  with  a  copy  of  the  Scriptures,  had  on  its  comple 
tion  announced  the  fact  to  the  British  Bible  Society  ;  though, 
of  course,  no  attempt  had  been  made  to  supply  the  slaves. 
The  Antislavery  Society,  being  in  session  in  the  city  of  New 
York  at  the  time  of  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Bible  Society, 
made  an  offer  of  five  thousand  dollars  if  that  society  would 
appropriate  twenty  thousand  dollars  for  the  supply  of  every 
slave  family  in  the  country. 

34 


266       RISE   AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

A  committee  of  seven  was  appointed  to  present  this  propo 
sition  to  the  board  of  managers.  Lewis  Tappan,  chairman 
of  the  committee,  having  presented  it,  and  seeing  that  it 
was  about  to  be  summarily  disposed  of,  asked  permission  to 
say  a  few  words  in  explanation.  But  he  received  neither  per 
mission  nor  notice  from  the  president.  He  then  remarked 
that,  both  as  a  member  of  the  committee  and  as  a  life-director 
of  the  Bible  Society  and  ex  qfficio  one  of  the  board  of  man 
agers,  he  claimed  the  right  of  a  hearing.  But  no  notice  what 
ever  was  taken  of  this  appeal.  A  motion  that  it  be  referred 
to  the  committee  of  distribution  was  carried  without  debate, 
and  the  board  proceeded  to  other  business.  In  the  published 
account  of  the  proceedings,  and  in  its  monthly  paper,  the 
organ  of  the  society,  no  reference  whatever  was  made  either 
to  the  proposition  or  to  the  mode  of  its  disposition.  The 
refusal  to  entertain  the  generous  offer,  and  its  attending  dis 
courtesy,  revealed  the  sad  demoralization  of  even  the  religious 
men  of  those  days.  But  though  Mr.  Tappan,  who  had  ever 
been  distinguished  for  his  active  and  generous  co-operation  in 
every  form  of  Christian  and  philanthropic  effort,  was  so  sadly 
repulsed  by  the  managers,  yet  years  afterward,  at  the  World's 
Antislavery  Convention  in  London,  when  asked  to  state  the 
particulars  of  their  conduct,  he  magnanimously  refused  to  do 
so;  because,  he  says,  "I  felt  unwilling  before  such  an  audi 
ence  to  relate  a  circumstance  so  disgraceful  to  the  managers 
of  the  Bible  Society  and  to  my  native  country." 

During  that  month  a  circular  was  issued  by  a  committee  of 
the  society,  requesting  its  auxiliaries  to  hold  meetings  on  the 
4th  of  July ;  and  at  the  same  time  an  appeal  was  made  to  its 
friends  to  raise  for  its  funds  twenty  thousand  dollars.  On 
that  day  the  society  held  a  meeting  in  Chatham  Street  Chapel. 
David  Paul  Brown,  a  distinguished  lawyer  of  Philadelphia, 
had  been  invited  to  deliver  the  oration.  A  meeting,  respect 
able  in  numbers,  assembled ;  but  when  the  orator  rose  to 
speak,  his  voice  was  drowned  by  the  riotous  demonstrations  of 
those  who  had  gathered  to  disturb  and  break  it  up.  Appeals 
were  made  in  vain  to  the  rioters ;  and  the  attempt  to  com 
memorate  the  birthday  of  the  nation  in  the  name  of  liberty 
was  thus  violently  defeated  by  the  despotism  of  the  mob. 


ANTISLAVERY    ACTION.  267 

A  few  days  afterward,  another  mob,  unquestionably  incited 
by  the  violent  language  and  appeals  of  some  portions  of  the 
city  press,  sacked  and  damaged  the  house  of  Lewis  Tappan 
and  destroyed  its  furniture.  Arthur  Tappan  and  several  mem 
bers  of  the  executive  committee  addressed  a  letter  to  the 
mayor  of  the  city  in  relation  to  the  unfounded  accusations 
brought  against  them,  disclaiming  the  charges  freely  made ; 
and,  though  they  could  not  recant  any  principles  adopted,  they 
avowed  their  willingness  to  live  and  die  by  the  constitution  of 
their  society  and  its  declaration  of  sentiments. 

In  that  season  of  feverish  excitement,  trial,  and  danger, 
Judge  William  Jay,  inheriting  not  only  the  honored  name,  but 
the  principles  and  purity  of  the  illustrious  first  chief-justice, 
at  first  declined  a  proffered  office  in  the  new  society,  deeming 
its  organization  premature,  but  afterward  recalled  his  declina 
tion,  and  sought  to  take  his  share  of  its  labors  and  responsi 
bilities.  His  name  gave  prestige ;  his  talents,  learning,  and 
integrity  afforded  strength  ;  while  his  cautious  and  ready  pen 
laid  precious  gifts  upon  its  altar.  His  "  Inquiry  "  is  a  reposi 
tory  of  valuable  facts  concerning  the  action  of  the  national 
government,  and  the  principles  and  purposes  of  the  Coloniza 
tion  and  Antislavery  Societies.  It  was  read  by  scholars  and 
statesmen,  and  exerted  a  powerful  influence  by  enlightening 
an  ignorant  public  sentiment  upon  the  great  truth  that  the  na 
tion  was  then  and  long  had  been  the  mere  serf  of  the  Slave 
Power.  All  his  writings  were  "  characterized  by  the  candor 
of  a  philosopher,  the  accuracy  of  a  statesman,  the  courtesy  of 
a  gentleman,  and  the  charity  of  a  Christian."  Having  taken 
his  position,  he  became  one  of  the  executive  committee,  and 
from  1834  to  1840  contributed  largely  to  the  wisdom  as  well 
as  vigor  of  its  proceedings. 

But  the  spirit  of  lawless  violence  continued  not  only  in  New 
York,  but  throughout  the  North,  repealing  more  and  more 
clearly  the  magnitude  and  inveteracy  of  the  evil  to  be  abated. 
The  purposes  of  the  Abolitionists  were  persistently  misrepre 
sented.  Even  good  and  fair-minded  men,  who  were  generally 
just  and  considerate  in  their  opinions,  were  led  to  believe,  not 
withstanding  the  explicit  avowals  and  disclaimers  of  the  so- 


268       RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE  POWEK   IN  AMERICA. 

ciety,  through  its  constitution,  Declaration  of  Sentiments,  and 
official  organs,  that  its  members  "  were  pursuing  measures  at 
variance  not  only  with  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  South, 
but  with  the  precepts  of  humanity  and  religion."  In  the  year 
1835  the  executive  committee  issued  an  address  designed  to 
remove  these  false  impressions.  This  address  was  signed  by 
Arthur  Tappan,  John  Rankin,  William  Jay,  Elizur  Wright,  Jr., 
Abraham  L.  Cox,  Lewis  Tappan,  Samuel  E.  Cornish,  S.  S. 
Jocelyn,  and  Theodore  S.  Wright.  It  was  written  by  Judge 
Jay,  and  contained  a  very  lucid  exposition  of  the  principles 
and  policy  of  the  society,  and  attracted  marked  attention  both 
at  home  and  abroad. 

It  declared  that  Congress  has  no  more  right  to  abolish  slav 
ery  in  the  Southern  States  than  in  the  French  West  India  Isl 
ands  ;  that  the  exercise  of  any  other  than  moral  influence  to 
induce  abolition  by  the  State  legislatures  would  be  unconstitu 
tional  ;  that  Congress  had  the  right  to  abolish  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  that  it  was  their  duty  to  efface  so 
foul  a  stain  from  the  national  escutcheon  ;  that  American  citi 
zens  have  the  right  to  express  and  publish  their  opinions  of 
the  constitution,  laws,  and  institutions  of  any  and  every  State 
and  nation  under  heaven,  asserting  that  "  we  never  intend  to 
surrender  the  liberty  of  speech,  of  the  press,  or  of  conscience, 
—  blessings  we  have  inherited  from  our  fathers,  and  which  we 
mean,  so  far  as  we  are  able,  to  transmit  unimpaired  to  our 
children."  It  also  affirmed  that  they  had  uniformly  depre 
cated  all  forcible  attempts  on  the  part  of  the  slaves  to  recover 
their  freedom  ;  that  they  would  deplore  any  servile  insurrec 
tion,  on  account  of  the  calamities  that  would  attend  it,  and 
the  occasion  it  might  give  for  increased  severity ;  that  the 
charge  that  they  had  sent  publications  to  the  South,  designed 
to  incite  the  slaves  to  insurrection,  was  utterly  and  unequivo 
cally  false ;  that  the  charge  that  they  had  sent  any  publica 
tions  to  the  slaves  was  false ;  that  they  had  employed  no 
agents  in  the  slave  States  to  distribute  their  publications.  But 
they  reiterated  their  conviction  that  slavery  was  sinful  and  in 
jurious  to  the  country,  and  that  immediate  abolition  would  be 
both  safe  and  wise,  and  that  they  had  no  intention  of  refrain- 


ANTISLAVERY   ACTION.  269 

ing  from  the  expression  of  such  views  in  future.  They  also 
gave  unequivocal  expression  to  their  views  in  regard  to  the 
elevation  of  the  colored  people.  To  the  accusation,  that  their 
acts  tended  to  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  and  that  they  wished 
to  destroy  it,  they  replied  with  emphasis  :  "  We  have  never 
calculated  the  value  of  the  Union,  because  we  believe  it  to  be 
inestimable,  and  that  the  abolition  of  slavery  will  remove  the 
chief  cause  of  its  dissolution." 

The  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society,  too,  issued  an  ad 
dress  to  the  public.  A  committee  of  thirty-one  persons  signed 
the  address.  Among  the  number  were  Samuel  J.  May,  Samuel 
E.  Sewall,  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Francis  Jackson,  Henry  C. 
Wright,  Ellis  Gray  Loring,  and -David  Lee  Child.  This  ad 
dress  was  issued  because  an  attempt  had  been  made  to  fix 
upon  Abolitionists  sentiments  and  intentions  they  abhorred. 
They  categorically  denied  the  charge  made  against  them  of  a 
wish  to  violate  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and 
avowed  their  deep  attachment  to  the  Union.  "  No  price," 
they  said,  "  can  be  paid  too  great  for  its  preservation,  but  the 
sacrifice  of  honor  and  principle."  To  intimations  that  they 
were  guilty  of  circulating  incendiary  publications  among  slaves, 
they  interposed  a  flat  and  peremptory  denial  and  indignantly 
denounced  the  charge  as  false.  They  solemnly  pledged  them 
selves  that  if  it  could  be  shown  that  any  person  connected 
with  the  antislavery  cause  had  circulated  inflammatory  tracts 
among  slaves,  or  with  a  view  to  be  read  by  them,  "  we  will 
publicly  renounce  him  as  a  foe  to  the  peace  of  society  and  to 
the  best  interests  of  the  oppressed."  They  denied  that  they 
had  ever  advocated  the  right  of  physical  resistance  upon  the 
part  of  the  oppressed.  "  We  assure  our  assailants,"  they  said, 
"  that  we  would  not  sacrifice  the  life  of  a  single  slaveholder  to 
emancipate  any  slave  in  the  United  States." 

The  charge  of  encouraging  amalgamation  between  whites 
and  blacks  they  denied,  and  announced  their  object  to  be  "to 
prevent  the  amalgamation  now  going  on,  so  far  as  it  can  be 
done,  by  placing  one  million  of  the  females  of  this  country 
under  the  protection  of  law."  They  denied,  too,  the  accusa 
tion  of  interfering  with  the  domestic  concerns  of  the  South- 


270       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

ern  States,  by  any  other  force  than  the  creation  of  a  public 
sentiment  that  shall  "  reach  the  conscience  and  blend  with 
the  convictions  of  the  slaveholder,  and  thus  ultimately  work 
the  complete  extinction  of  slavery."  Acknowledging  that  no 
change  in  the  slave  laws  of  the  Southern  States  could  be  made 
unless  by  Southern  legislatures,  they  distinctly  declared  that 
"  neither  Congress  nor  the  legislatures  of  the  free  States  have 
authority  to  change  the  condition  of  a  single  slave  in  the  slave 
States."  They  closed  their  address  by  avowing  their  intention 
to  discuss  and  promulgate  their  principles  under  the  sacred 
privileges  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
"  We  have  violated,"  they  said,  "  we  mean  to  violate,  no  law. 
We  have  acted,  we  shall  continue  to  act,  under  the  sanction 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Nothing  that  we 
propose  to  do  can  be  prevented  by  our  opponents  without  vio 
lating  the  charter  of  our  rights.  To  the  law  and  to  the  Con 
stitution  we  appeal." 

After  referring  to  the  unconstitutional  usurpations  of  the 
national  government  to  protect  slavery,  and  to  the  efforts  made 
to  prevent  free  discussion  and  the  free  transmission  of  the 
mails,  they  uttered  these  words  of  prophetic  warning :  "  Surely 
we  need  not  remind  you  that  if  you  submit  to  such  an  encroach 
ment  on  your  liberties  the  days  of  our  Republic  are  numbered  ; 
and  that,  although  Abolitionists  may  be  the  first,  they  will  not 
be  the  last,  victims  offered  at  the  shrine  of  arbitrary  power." 
Having  set  forth  their  principles  and  purposes,  so  completely 
in  harmony  with  the  theory  of  the  government  and  the  precepts 
of  Christianity,  in  language  so  concise,  clear,  and  convincing, 
they  put  the  solemn  and  significant  question  to  their  country 
men  :  "  Are  they  unworthy  of  Republicans  and  of  Chris 
tians  ?  " 

But  notwithstanding  the  declarations  of  those  Christian 
men,  the  purity  of  whose  lives  was  a  guaranty  of  their  sincer 
ity  and  truthfulness,  President  Jackson,  in  his  annual  message 
of  the  7th  of  December  of  that  year,  invited  the  attention  of 
Congress  to  "  the  painful  excitement  produced  in  the  South 
by  attempts  to  circulate  through  the  mails  inflammatory  appeals 
addressed  to  the  passions  of  the  slaves,  in  prints  and  in  va- 


ANTISLAVERY   ACTION.  271 

rious  sorts  of  publications,  calculated  to  stimulate  them  to  insur 
rection  and  produce  all  the  horrors  of  a  servile  war."  He 
expressed  the  opinion  that  no  respectable  portion  of  his  country 
men  could  be  so  far  misled  as  to  feel  any  other  sentiment  than 
that  of  indignant  regret  at  conduct  "  so  destructive  of  the 
harmony  and  peace  of  the  country,  and  so  repugnant  to  the 
principles  of  our  national  compact  and  to  the  dictates  of  human 
ity  and  religion."  ',  • 

This  language  was  intended  to  be  applied  to  the  members 
and  officers  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society  and  its  aux 
iliaries.  On  the  28th  of  December  the  executive  committee 
addressed  to  the  President  an  elaborate  and  dignified  protest 
against  his  accusations.  In  this  paper,  from  the  polished  and 
pungent  pen  of  Judge  Jay,  the  propriety  was  suggested  to  the 
President  of  ascertaining  the  real  designs  of  the  Abolitionists 
before  his  apprehensions  should  lead  him  to  sanction  any  more 
trifling  with  the  liberty  of  the  press,  or  to  denounce  them  as 
misguided  persons,  engaged  in  unconstitutional  and  wicked  at 
tempts  to  effect  the  massacre  of  their  Southern  brethren.  He 
was  reminded  that  there  were  then  three  hundred  and  fifty 
abolition  societies,  numbering  thousands  of  members  ;  and  the 
pertinent  question  was  put  to  him,  whether  there  was  anything 
in  "  the  character  and  manner  of  the  free  States  to  warrant 
the  imputation  on  their  citizens  of  such  enormous  wicked 
ness  ?  " 

"  What,  sir,"  they  asked,  "  is  the  character  of  those  you 
have  held  up  to  the  execration  of  a  civilized  world  ?  Their 
enemies  being  judges,  they  are  religious  fanatics.  And  what 
are  the  haunts  of  these  plotters  of  murder  ?  The  pulpit,  the 
bench,  the  bar,  the  professor's  chair,  the  hall  of  legislation,  the 
meeting  for  prayer,  the  temple  of  the  Most  High.  But,  strange 
and  monstrous  as  is  this  conspiracy,  still  you  believe  in  its  ex 
istence,  and  call  on  Congress  to  counteract  it.  Be  persuaded, 
sir,  the  moral  sense  of  the  community  is  abundantly  sufficient 
to  render  this  conspiracy  utterly  impotent  the  moment  its 
machinations  are  exposed.  Only  prove  the  assertions  and  in 
sinuations  in  your  message,  and  you  dissolve  in  an  instant 
every  antislavery  society  in  our  land.  Think  not,  sir,  that  we 


272        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

shall  oppose  any  obstacles  to  an  inquiry  into  our  conduct.  We 
invite,  nay,  sir,  we  entreat,  the  appointment  by  Congress  of  a 
committee  of  investigation  to  visit  the  antislavery  office  in 
New  York."  They  pledged  themselves  to  put  in  possession 
of  such  committee  copies  of  their  publications  and  their  cor 
respondence,  and  to  answer,  under  oath,  all  interrogations. 
'  The  committee  closed  their  communication  to  the  President 
with  these  words :  "  We  have  addressed  you,  sir,  with  republi 
can  plainness  and  Christian  sincerity,  but  with  no  desire  to 
derogate  from  the  respect  that  is  due  you,  or  wantonly  to  give 
you  pain.  To  repel  your  charges  and  to  disabuse  the  public 
was  a  duty  we  owed  to  ourselves,  our  children,  and,  above  all, 
to  the  great  and  holy  cause  in  which  we  are  engaged.  That 
cause,  we  believe,  is  approved  by  our  Maker  ;  and  while  we  re 
tain  this  belief  it  is  our  intention,  trusting  to  his  direction  and 
protection,  to  persevere  in  our  endeavors  to  impress  upon  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  our  countrymen  the  sinfulness  of  claim 
ing  property  in  human  beings,  and  the  duty  and  wisdom  of  im 
mediately  relinquishing  it.  When  convinced  that  our  endeav 
ors  are  wrong,  we  shall  abandon  them ;  but  such  conviction 
must  be  produced  by  other  arguments  than  vituperation,  popu 
lar  violence,  or  penal  enactments." 

The  executive  committee  of  the  society  held  weekly  meet 
ings  from  the  time  of  its  organization  to  the  spring  of  1840. 
Important  and  weighty  matters  came  before  it,  and  were  care 
fully  and  conscientiously  considered.  Objects  of  contumely, 
often  standing  in  peril  of  life  or  limb,  subjected  to  insult  and 
not  unfrequently  to  actual  violence,  its  members  discharged 
its  high  duties  with  firmness,  dignity,  and  a  calm  trust  in 
God.  None  can  fail  to  respect  the  men  who  thus  toiled  on  for 
the  emancipation  and  elevation  of  a  race  scarcely  one  of  whom 
will  know  that  they  ever  lived,  the  honors  and  rewards  of 
whose  office  were  an  ever-present  obloquy  and  constant  pecu 
niary  sacrifice. 

The  activity  of  those  men  was  prodigious,  their  labors  im 
mense.  Thus,  during  the  year  1838  there  were  circulated 
from  the  New  York  office  more  than  646,000  publications  and 
documents,  some  thousands  of  them  being  bound  volumes ;  and 


ANTISLAVERY   ACTION.  273 

during  the  year  1839  more  than  724,000  of  the  like  descrip 
tion.  In  that  office,  too,  a  system  of  petitioning  Congress  and 
State  legislatures  was  carried  forward  on  a  most  extensive 
scale.  During  five  months  of  one  session  of  Congress  —  and 
that  chiefly  under  the  direction  of  John  G.  Whittier,  Theodore 
D.  Weld,  and  Henry  B.  Stanton  —  it  was  ascertained  by  actual 
count  that  more  than  four  hundred  thousand  signatures  to  peti 
tions  were  sent  to  Congress  ;  and  it  was  estimated  by  Mr. 
Stanton  that  there  were  sent,  under  the  auspices  of  the  ex 
ecutive  committee  at  New  York,  during  the  years  1837-39, 
more  than  two  million  signatures  to  Congress  and  to  the  State 
legislatures. 

Another  evidence  of  the  earnest  purpose  and  wise  forecast 
of  the  executive  committee  was  exhibited  in  their  efforts  to  find 
and  fit  suitable  agents  for  the  great  work  they  had  undertaken. 
The  country  was  canvassed,  chiefly  by  Mr.  Weld,  for  that  pur 
pose,  and  about  seventy  persons  were  brought  together  in  the 
city  of  New  York  for  a  kind  of  preparatory  training  for  their 
new  vocation.  For  some  two  weeks  they  listened  to  the  older 
and  more  experienced  orators  and  organizers  on  all  the  phases 
of  the  great  cause,  and  the  varied  demands  and  exigencies  of 
the  rough  and  perilous  service  they  had  undertaken.  It  was, 
in  fact,  an  Institute  of  Humanity.  After  receiving  their  in 
structions  and  suggestions,  and  after  being  subjected  to  such 
drill  and  discipline  as  the  time  and  place  allowed,  they  went 
forth,  like  the  seventy  of  old,  on  their  mission  of  liberty  to  the 
slave  and  their  errand  of  peace  and  good-will  to  the  nation. 


35 


CHAPTER    XX. 

MOBS.  —  OUTRAGES  IN  CINCINNATI.  —  WOMEN  MOBBED  IN  BOSTON. 

Proscription.  —  Theodore  D.  Weld.  —  James  G.  Birney.  —  Establishment  of  the 
"  Philanthropist."  —  Mobs.  —  Meeting  of  the  Citizens  of  Cincinnati. Reso 
lution  to  suppress  the  "Philanthropist."  —Firmness  of  the  Antislavery  Com 
mittee.  —  Riotous  Mob.  —  Destruction  of  the  Press.  —  The  "  Philanthropist  " 
continued.  —  Dr.  Bailey.  —  Mobs  in  Philadelphia.  —  Continued  Violence 
against  the  Abolitionists.  —  Orange  Scott.  —  George  Storrs.  —  Meeting  of  Citi 
zens  of  Boston  in  Faneuil  Hall.  —  Boston  Female  Antislavery  Society.  —  Pub 
lic  Meeting  of  the  Society.  —  George  Thompson.  —  Mob  Violence.  —  Mayor 
Lyman.  —Seizure  of  Mr.  Garrison.  —  Imprisoned.  —  Francis  Jackson.  —  Meet 
ing  at  his  House.  —  Remarks  of  Miss  Martineau. 

ALL  who  openly  accepted  the  doctrine  of  immediate  eman 
cipation,  or  in  any  way  countenanced  and  defended  the  meas 
ures  of  the  Abolitionists,  were  called  to  suffer.  Too  generally 
some  tie  of  personal  friendship  was  weakened,  if  not  severed, 
the  hostility  of  political  organizations  incurred,  and  the  ban 
of  commercial  circles  was  marked  and  inexorable.  Even  in 
the  associations  of  religion  and  benevolence,  to  be  tainted  with 
the  heresy  of  freedom  involved  too  often  loss  of  caste,  reputa 
tion,  and  influence.  To  believe  in  and  defend  the  simple  and 
fundamental  principles  of  the  gospel  and  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  generally  subjected  members  to  the  supercilious 
sneers  of  their  leaders,  if  the  opposition  did  not  assume  a 
more  active  and  offensive  form.  Even  the  sacred  name  of 
"  liberty  "  was  held  in  disesteem,  became  a  term  of  reproach, 
a  badge  of  disgrace,  while  fidelity  to  its  claims  was  branded 
as  the  wildest  and  most  mischievous  fanaticism.  Antislavery 
meetings  were  assailed  by  "  gentlemen  of  property  and  stand 
ing,"  hand  in  hand  with  the  drunken  and  profane  rabble. 
Antislavery  lecturers  were  pelted  with  eggs,  stones,  and  brick 
bats.  The  lowly  homes  of  the  proscribed  race,  the  private 


OUTEAGES  IN   CINCINNATI.  275 

dwellings  of  their  heroic  friends  and  defenders,  and  even  the 
churches  of  the  living  God,  were  roughly  assaulted,  and  some 
times  sacked  and  burned.  Printing  presses  and  types  were 
broken  and  scattered,  and  antislavery  papers  and  publications 
were  treated  with  undisguised  neglect  or  scorn.  Even  woman 
forgot  the  gentle  amenities  of  her  sex,  no  less  than  the  claims 
of  humanity,  and  hesitated  not  to  speak  bitter  and  scornful 
words  of  their  cause  who  were  aiming  to  rescue  her  sisters  in 
bondage  from  a  doom  more  terrible  than  their  fetters  and 
stripes.  Indeed,  it  is  difficult,  without  a  shudder,  to  think  of 
those  days  of  domestic  estrangement  and  social  ostracism,  of 
political  intolerance  and  commercial  exactions,  —  those  days 
when  even  churches  and  missionary  and  benevolent  organiza 
tions  were  felt  to  be,  if  not  "  bulwarks  of  slavery,"  serious 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  its  removal. 

In  the  year  1832  Theodore  D.  Weld  visited  Tennessee, 
Alabama,  and  other  portions  of  the  South.  While  at  Hunts- 
ville,  he  met  at  the  table  of  an  eminent  slaveholding  clergy 
man  James  G.  Birney,  who  afterward  occupied  so  prominent  a 
place  in  the  antislavery  struggle.  Mr.  Birney  was  then  en 
gaged  in  raising  cotton,  and  at  the  same  time  practising  the 
legal  profession,  in  which  he  had  gained  considerable  distinc 
tion.  At  the  table  slavery  and  the  right  of  the  slaveholder  to 
his  slaves  were  discussed.  Mr.  Weld  put  the  question  to  his 
host  by  what  right  he  held  his  slaves  —  one  of  whom  was  a 
minister  of  the  gospel  —  in  bondage.  He  endeavored  to  an 
swer  the  question  ;  but,  although  a  man  of  culture,  he  utterly 
failed  to  meet  the  logic  of  Mr.  Weld.  Feeling  that  he  had 
failed,  he  asked  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Birney  ;  but  he  declined  to 
give  it,  and  continued  to  listen  to  the  discussion  with  the 
deepest  interest.  Inviting  Mr.  Weld  to  call  at  his  office  the 
next  day,  he  retired  to  his  home,  and  gave  the  night,  not  to 
sleep,  but  to  a  deep  and  anxious  examination  of  this  simple 
but  pregnant  inquiry.  When  he  called,  Mr.  Birney  informed 
him  that  he  had  deeply  reflected  through  the  night  upon  his 
question,  and  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  he  could  not 
show  the  right  of  the  slaveholder  to  his  slaves. 

Becoming  deeply  interested  in  and  concerned  for  the  rights 


276        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

of  the  bondmen,  he  relinquished  his  legal  practice,  became  an 
active  agent  of  the  Colonization  Society,  and  travelled  exten 
sively  through  the  Southern  States.  He  soon,  however,  lost 
confidence  in  that  society  as  an  antislavery  agency,  and  became 
convinced  that  what  he  had  fondly  hoped  would  lead  to  eman 
cipation  tended  rather  to  its  prevention.  At  the  close  of  the 
year  1833  he  returned  to  his  home  in  Kentucky,  dissolved  his 
connection  with  the  Colonization  Society,  and  emancipated  his 
slaves.  For  the  purpose  of  disseminating  the  doctrines  of 
immediate  emancipation,  to  which  he  had  become  a  convert, 
he  purchased  a  press  and  types,  with  the  view  of  establishing 
a  paper  in  his  native  State.  Learning  his  purpose,  his  neigh 
bors  resolved  at  once  to  baffle  his  intentions.  On  the  12th 
of  July,  1835,  the  slaveholders  of  Danville  assembled  in  mass 
meeting,  denounced  the  movement,  and  addressed  to  him  a 
letter  remonstrating  against  the  establishment  of  an  abolition 
journal,  and  avowing  their  purpose  to  prevent  it.  Mr.  Bir- 
ney,  aware  of  his  legal  rights,  firmly  refused  to  yield  to  their 
demands  ;  but  his  printer  became  alarmed  and  refused  to  en 
gage  in  its  publication.  Finding  he  could  not  issue  his  paper 
in  Kentucky,  he  removed  his  press  to  Cincinnati,  with  a  view 
to  its  establishment  there. 

But  he  soon  found  that  the  same  influences  which  rendered 
it  impracticable  to  establish  his  paper  in  Kentucky  existed  in 
Cincinnati.  Removing  his  press  to  New  Richmond,  some 
twenty  miles  distant,  he  commenced  the  publication  of  the 
"  Philanthropist."  His  paper  was  highly  commended  for  its 
ability  and  moderation,  and  was  so  well  received  that  he  re 
moved  it  to  Cincinnati  in  April,  1836.  All  admitted  its  fair 
ness  and  ability  ;  even  its  enemies  conceded  that  its  mode  of 
conducting  discussions  was  unexceptionable.  Nevertheless, 
on  the  12th  of  July,  at  midnight,  his  office  was  entered  by 
a  band  of  conspirators,  and  the  press  arid  types  were  much 
damaged.  Threats  were  thrown  out  that,  unless  the  publica 
tion  of  the  paper  was  abandoned,  the  outrage  would  be  re 
peated  in  a  more  effective  manner.  The  proslavery  presses 
of  the  city  opened  in  full  chorus  upon  the  "  Philanthropist," 
its  editor,  and  friends.  Every  means  of  abuse  and  annoyance 


OUTRAGES  IN  CINCINNATI.  277 

was  resorted  to.  Even  handbills  were  posted  in  the  streets, 
offering  rewards  for  Mr.  Birney's  arrest  and  delivery  in  Ken 
tucky,  as  a  fugitive  from  justice.  But  he  remained  firm  and 
stood  undismayed  amidst  these  fearful  assaults. 

On  the  21st  of  July  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Cincinnati 
was  called  at  the  Lower  Market  House,  to  see  if  they  "  will 
permit  the  publication  or  distribution  of  abolition  papers  in 
this  city."  This  meeting,  presided  over  by  the  postmaster  of 
the  city,  also  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  resolved  that  nothing 
less  than  the  complete  relinquishment  of  the  publication  of 
the  paper  could  prevent  a  resort  to  violence.  This  tumult 
uous  assemblage  proclaimed,  too,  that  they  would  use  all 
lawful  means  to  suppress  any  publication  which  advocated  the 
modern  doctrine  of  abolitionism.  A  committee  of  thirteen 
was  appointed  to  wait  upon  Mr.  Birney  and  his  associates,  and 
request  them  to  desist  from  the  publication  of  their  paper ; 
and  to  warn  them,  if  they  did  not  do  so,  that  the  meeting 
would  not  be  responsible  for  the  consequences.  It  was  stated 
by  the  "  Cincinnati  Gazette,"  a  journal  which  then  honored 
itself  by  maintaining  the  right  of  free  discussion,  that  eight 
of  the  thirteen  members  of  the  committee  were  communicants 
of  Christian  churches.  They  were  certainly  men  of  wealth, 
social  position,  and  large  influence.  At  its  head  stood  Jacob 
Burnett,  an  old  citizen  of  the  Northwest,  a  lawyer  of  eminence, 
who  had  been  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio  and  a 
senator  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

On  the  evening  of  the  28th  this  committee  and  the  execu 
tive  committee  of  the  Ohio  Antislavery  Society,  under  whose 
auspices  the  "  Philanthropist "  was  published,  held  a  confer 
ence.  The  executive  committee  proposed  to  discuss  the  sub 
ject  in  public ;  but  the  market-house  committee  would  listen 
to  nothing  but  the  immediate  "  discontinuance  of  the  '  Phi 
lanthropist  '  and  total  silence  on  the  subject  of  slavery."  In 
case  of  refusal  to  comply  with  their  modest  request,  they  pre 
dicted  "  a  mob  unusual  in  its  numbers,  determined  in  its  pur 
pose,  and  desolating  in  its  ravages."  Judge  Burnett  expressed 
the  opinion  that  the  mob  would  consist  of  five  thousand  per 
sons,  and  that  two  thirds  of  the  property-holders  of  the  city 


278        RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

would  join  in  it.  He  thought  it  would  be  utterly  vain  for  any 
man,  or  set  of  men,  to  attempt  to  restrain  it ;  and  he  asserted 
that  it  would  destroy  any  man  who  should  set  himself  in  op 
position  to  it,  —  thus  revealing  both  the  policy  and  the  power 
of  those  riotous  demonstrations.  The  members  of  this  mar 
ket-house  committee  were  then  asked,  if  the  mob  could  be 
averted,  whether  they  would  be  willing  that  the  publications 
should  be  continued. 

To  this  pertinent  question  the  chairman  and  several  of  its 
members  promptly  replied  that  they  would  not.  The  execu 
tive  committee  were  then  graciously  allowed  till  the  noon  of 
the  next  day  to  give  their  final  answer  whether  or  not  they 
would  discontinue  the  paper.  When  that  hour  arrived,  the 
eight  men  composing  the  executive  committee  of  the  Ohio 
Antislavery  Society  unanimously  and  firmly  declined  to  com 
ply  with  the  impertinent,  insolent,  and  lawless  demand.  The 
market-house  committee  were  hardly  prepared  for  such  a  re 
ply.  Its  members  found  themselves  in  a  predicament  they 
did  not  anticipate  ;  standing  in  the  face  of  law  and  justice, 
and  also  of  men  who  firmly  planted  themselves  on  their  con 
stitutional  and  legal  rights.  They  could  only  turn  to  the  mob, 
whose  representatives  they  were,  and  hasten  to  resign  their 
office,  so  that  its  announcement  could  appear  in  the  morning 
papers  of  the  next  day. 

On  the  evening  of  that  day  the  rioters  assembled,  and 
were  regularly  organized  with  a  chairman  and  secretary. 
They  then  resolved  that  the  press  and  type  of  the  "  Philan 
thropist  "  should  be  thrown  into  the  streets,  and  that  its  editor 
should  be  notified  to  leave  the  city  within  twenty-four  hours. 
When  darkness  had  settled  upon  the  city  the  work  of  destruc 
tion  commenced.  The  office  of  the  obnoxious  journal  was  en 
tered  and  pillaged,  the  types  scattered,  and  the  press  broken 
and  thrown  into  the  Ohio.  The  mob  then  rushed  to  the 
house  of  Mr.  Birney  ;  but,  not  finding  him,  it  wreaked  its  mean 
vengeance,  with  cowardly  brutality,  upon  the  humble  homes 
of  the  poor  colored  people.  About  midnight,  the  mayor,  who 
dishonored  his  name  and  position  by  his  pusillanimity  and  im 
becility,  addressed  the  mob  as  "  friends,"  told  them  they  had 


OUTRAGES  IN   CINCINNATI.  279 

"  done  enough  for  one  night,"  that  the  Abolitionists  must  be 
convinced  that  they  "  could  not  set  at  naught  the  public  senti 
ment  of  Cincinnati,"  and  advised  them  to  go  home,  as  they 
could  not  punish  the  guilty  without  endangering  the  innocent. 
And  the  mob,  thus  systematically  organized  by  wealthy  and  dis 
tinguished  leaders,  hastened  to  their  homes,  glorying  in  their 
deed  of  infamy,  to  be  to  them  ever  afterward  a  reproach  and 
shame.  By  this  act  of  lawless  violence,  however,  the  ranks  of 
the  Abolitionists  of  Ohio  received  many  accessions  and  the  cir 
culation  of  the  "  Philanthropist "  was  much  increased.  Its 
publication  was  continued,  and  soon  passed  under  the  editorial 
control  of  Dr.  Gamaliel  Bailey,  a  gentlemen  of  talent,  expe 
rience,  and  character.  Although  its  types  and  presses  were 
three  times  broken  and  scattered,  that  journal  was  continued 
for  several  years,  ever  an  earnest  and  effective  defender  of  the 
rights  of  the  oppressed  and  the  advocate  of  their  deliverance. 

As  already  narrated,  the  New  York  City  Antislavery  Society, 
organized  in  the  autumn  of  1833,  was  interrupted  and  driven 
from  its  place  of  meeting ;  the  celebration  of  the  4th  of  July, 
1834,  by  the  American  Antislavery  Society,  was  broken  up ; 
the  house  of  Lewis  Tappan  was  sacked  ;  and  churches  and 
school-houses,  and  the  homes  of  colored  men,  were  assaulted 
and  damaged  by  mob  violence.  In  the  city  of  Philadelphia, 
also,  a  terrible  riot  commenced  on  the  13th  of  August,  1834, 
which  continued  during  three  nights.  Forty-four  houses,  in 
habited  by  colored  persons,  were  assaulted,  damaged,  and  many 
of  them  destroyed.  Many  blacks  were  brutally  beaten  and 
seriously  injured,  one  was  killed  outright,  and  another  was 
drowned  in  attempting  to  swim  the  Schuylkill  to  escape  his 
tormentors.  Other  riotous  demonstrations,  less  serious  and 
fatal  in  their  character,  were  made  in  other  portions  of  the 
country. 

These  outrages  on  person  and  property  went  on  increas 
ing,  and  the  cruel  and  dastardly  assaults  upon  the  Aboli 
tionists  were  renewed  with  redoubled  fury.  Deeds  of  law 
less  violence  were  countenanced  and  often  excited  by  men  of 
wealth,  of  high  social  and  political  position,  and  sometimes 
by  members  of  Christian  churches.  The  public  presses  were 


280       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

filled  with  the  most  scandalous  and  libellous  accusations  against 
leading  antislavery  men.  Their  motives,  purposes,  and  acts 
were  grossly  misrepresented.  Churches  and  public  halls  were 
closed  against  them.  They  were  everywhere  made  to  feel  that 
they  held  property  and  liberty,  if  not  life  itself,  at  the  mercy 
of  excited,  exasperated,  and  lawless  men.  To  be  an  Aboli 
tionist  then  was  to  be  buffeted,  scorned,  and  outraged.  It  was, 
indeed,  a  reign  of  terror. 

Orange  Scott,  a  clergyman  of  the  Methodist  church,  an  early, 
consistent,  and  persistent  opponent  of  slavery,  while  address 
ing  the  citizens  of  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  on  the  10th  of 
August,  was  assaulted  and  his  notes  seized  and  torn  to  pieces 
by  a  mob  led  by  a  son  of  Ex-Governor  Lincoln.  In  the  same 
year  Rev.  George  Storrs,  another  Methodist  clergyman,  an 
earnest  and  effective  worker  in  the  cause  of  emancipation, 
while  delivering  a  lecture  in  New  Hampshire,  was  arrested  by 
a  deputy  sheriff,  on  the  wicked  charge  of  being  "  a  common 
rioter  and  brawler."  A  few  months  afterward  he  was  arrested 
at  an  antislavery  meeting,  and  dragged  from  his  knees  while  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Curtis  was  at  prayer,  on  a  writ  of  the  same  character, 
issued  by  Moses  Norris,  afterward  a  Democratic  member  of 
Congress  and  senator  of  the  United  States.  This  good  man, 
universally  known  and  recognized  as  such,  was  tried,  con 
victed,  and  sentenced  by  a  justice  of  the  peace  to  the  House  of 
Correction  for  three  months.  From  that  unmerited  and  wicked 
sentence  he  appealed  to  a  higher  tribunal,  and  was  no  more 
molested. 

One  hundred  and  twenty-five  of  the  citizens  of  Boston  peti 
tioned  the  city  authorities  for  the  use  of  Faneuil  Hall  for  an 
antislavery  meeting.  But  their  prayer  was  peremptorily  de 
nied.  Shortly  afterward  fifteen  hundred  asked  for  it,  not  to 
speak  for  liberty,  but  to  apologize  for  slavery  ;  not  to  resist  the 
wicked  demands  of  the  Slave  Power,  but  to  censure  and  con 
demn  those  whose  only  offence  was  fidelity  to  liberty  and  devo 
tion  to  the  claims  of  the  down-trodden  and  oppressed. 

On  the  21st  of  August,  Faneuil  Hall  was  crowded  by  the  ex 
cited  citizens  of  Boston.  That  assemblage  was  addressed  by 
the  aged  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  whose  presence  and  voice  were 


WOMEN  MOBBED  IN  BOSTON.  281 

always  welcome  there ;  and  by  Peleg  Sprague  and  Richard 
Fletcher,  lawyers  of  great  eminence,  in  whom  the  conservative 
men  of  those  times  had  unquestioning  confidence.  These  ac 
complished  orators  expatiated  upon  the  compromises  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  obligations  of  citizenship,  apologized  for 
slavery,  and  so  presented  and  perverted  the  objects  and  pur 
poses  of  the  Abolitionists  as  to  increase  the  prejudices  already 
existing,  and  to  deepen  and  intensify  passions  already  aroused 
against  them. 

The  legitimate  effects  of  the  meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall,  and 
of  similar  meetings  in  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  other 
cities,  were  everywhere  visible.  Riotous  demonstrations  and 
violence  increased.  Wherever  the  Abolitionists  appeared  to 
proclaim  their  doctrines  they  were  denounced  by  the  press, 
shunned  and  censured  by  the  churches,  and  outraged  by  the 
mob. 

Several  ladies  in  Boston  and  its  vicinity,  of  culture  and  high 
social  position,  were  early  led  to  take  a  deep  interest  in  the 
cause.  They  formed  an  antislavery  society,  and  entered  upon 
the  work  with  zeal,  resolution,  and  tireless  industry.  With 
different  tastes  and  culture,  opinions  and  beliefs,  they  found 
here  common  ground  of  action,  —  a  common  bond  of  union. 
Of  this  society  Mrs.  Maria  W.  Chapman,  a  lady  of  rare  exec 
utive  abilities  and  accomplishments,  its  secretary  and  one  of 
its  leading  members,  says  :  "  Our  common  cause  appears  in  a 
different  vesture  as  presented  by  differing  minds.  One  is  striv 
ing  to  unbind  the  slave's  manacles,  another  to  secure  to  all 
human  souls  their  inalienable  rights ;  one  to  secure  the  tem 
poral  well-being,  and  another  the  spiritual  benefit,  of  the  en 
slaved  of  our  land.  Some  labor  that  the  benefits  which  they 
feel  they  have  derived  from  their  own  system  of  theology  may 
be  shared  by  the  bondman  ;  others  that  the  bondman  may  have 
light  and  liberty  to  form  a  system  for  himself.  Some  that  he 
may  be  enabled  to  hallow  the  Sabbath  day  by  rest  and  religious 
observances';  some,  that  he  may  receive  wages  for  the  other 
six.  Some  are  forcibly  urged  to  the  work  of  emancipation  by 
the  sight  of  scourged  and  insulted  manhood ;  and  others  by 
the  spectacle  of  outraged  womanhood  and  weeping  infancy. 

36 


282       RISE   AND  FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

Some  labor  to  preserve  from  torture  the  slave's  body,  and  some 
for  the  salvation  of  his  soul.  Here  are  differences  ;  neverthe 
less  our  hopes  and  hearts  are  one."  Deeply  grateful  that  they 
were  among  the  early  called,  in  those  unquiet  years,  to  such  a 
work  of  self-sacrifice,  these  gifted  and  excellent  women  went 
forth  cheerfully  to  their  self-allotted  task,  praying  "  for  the 
sake  of  the  oppressed  that  God  will  aid  us  to  banish  from  our 
hearts  every  vestige  of  selfishness ;  for  in  proportion  to  our 
disinterestedness  will  be  our  moral  power  for  their  deliver 
ance."  It  hardly  seems  credible,  it  is  certainly  not  creditable 
to  Boston  and  its  citizens,  that  a  company  of  its  most  refined 
and  cultivated  ladies,  animated  by  such  a  spirit  and  laboring  for 
such  purposes  could  not  meet  in  that  city  in  safety,  and  that 
the  city  government  could  not  afford  them  protection  ;  and  yet 
such  is  the  historical  fact. 

It  was  announced  that  the  Boston  Female  Antislavery  So 
ciety  would  hold  a  public  meeting  at  their  hall  in  Washington 
Street,  on  the  21st  of  October,  1835.  On  the  morning  of 
that  day  inflammatory  handbills  were  circulated  and  threats 
were  freely  uttered.  Appeals  were  made  to  the  city  authori 
ties  for  protection.  Instead  of  that  these  women  were  reminded 
by  the  marshal  that  they  gave  the  city  officials  a  great  deal  of 
trouble.  It  had  been  published  and  posted  through  the  city  that 
"  the  infamous  foreign  scoundrel,  Thompson,"  would  speak  at 
the  meeting,  that  it  would  be  a  fair  opportunity  for  the  friends 
of  the  Union  to  "  snake  him  out,"  and  one  hundred  dollars 
were  offered  to  the  individual  who  would  first  lay  hands  on 
him  "  so  that  he  could  be  brought  to  the  tar-kettle."  In  the 
autumn  of  the  preceding  year,  George  Thompson,  one  of  the 
most  gifted  and  eloquent  men  of  his  age,  came  to  the  United 
States,  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Garrison  and  other  leading  Aboli 
tionists  in  England  and  America.  He  had  so  grandly  distin 
guished  himself  by  his  brilliant  and  successful  advocacy  of 
West  India  emancipation,  that  when  that  great  triumph  had 
been  won,  in  1833,  Lord  Brougham  said  :  "  I  rise  to  take  the 
crown  of  this  most  glorious  victory  from  every  other  head, 
and  place  it  upon  George  Thompson.  He  has  done  more  than 
any  other  man  to  achieve  it." 


WOMEN   MOBBED   IN  BOSTON.  283 

He  was  an  ardent  admirer  of  republican  institutions  and  a 
sincere  friend  of  the  United  States,  and  ever  continued  his 
friendship,  in  spite  of  the  rude  buifetings  he  received,  and  the 
unmeasured  abuse  which  had  been  heaped  upon  him  by  pro- 
slavery  presses,  politicians,  and  people.  His  coming  was  wel 
comed  by  the  Abolitionists  ;  and  for  more  than  a  year,  in  New 
England,  the  central  States,  and  Ohio,  he  addressed  public 
meetings  in  speeches  of  surpassing  eloquence  and  power.  The 
country  was  in  a  heated  ferment,  and  his  presence  and  speeches 
intensified  the  excitement  and  added  to  the  bitterness  which 
everywhere  manifested  itself.  The  press,  with  some  honor 
able  exceptions,  denounced  him  as  a  foreign  intruder,  inter- 
meddler,  British  emissary,  and  "  paid  agent "  of  the  enemies 
of  republican  institutions.  He  was  repeatedly  hooted  at,  in 
sulted,  and  mobbed  ;  but  he  never  uttered  an  unfriendly  word 
toward  the  country,  and  he  struggled  on  for  the  removal  of 
an  evil  which  he  pronounced  "  the  nation's  disgrace,"  and 
what  would  prove  its  ruin,  if  continued.  A  few  days  before 
this  meeting  he  had  been  mobbed  in  Plymouth  County ; 
and  so  great  was  the  excitement  against  him,  he  was  then 
secreted  by  his  friends  in  Boston.  Baffling  his  frenzied  ene 
mies,  he  shortly  after  left  the  country,  and  returned  to  his 
native  land.  But  when  slavery,  which,  more  than  a  quarter  of 
a  century  before,  he  sought  so  earnestly  to  destroy,  plunged 
the  nation  into  civil  war,  though  sorely  enfeebled  by  his  hercu 
lean  labors  for  humanity,  he  at  once  and  boldly  espoused  the 
cause  of  United  America.  When  and  where  there  were  few 
voices  raised  in  its  behalf,  his  rang  out  clear  and  strong  for 
the  imperilled  land.  Welcomed  again  to  the  country  during 
its  fearful  conflict,  it  was  his  privilege  to  see  the  flag  restored 
over  the  dismantled  walls  of  Sumter,  to  look  into  the  glad 
faces  of  emancipated  thousands,  and  thrill  their  souls,  as  his 
own  must  have  been  thrilled  by  the  scenes  before  him,  with 
his  words  of  counsel  and  of  cheer. 

The  belief  that  he  was  to  be  at  that  meeting  increased  and 
intensified  the  excitement.  To  "  snake  out "  of  a  company 
of  Boston  ladies  that  brilliant  and  eloquent  Englishman 
was  unquestionably  one  of  the  leading  motives  which  in- 


284       RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

spired  that  mob  of  self-styled  "  gentlemen  of  property  and 
standing." 

At  the  hour  of  meeting,  about  thirty  members  of  the  society 
assembled  in  their  room.  Many  others,  who  had  striven  to 
enter  the  hall,  were  turned  back  by  the  rioters.  The  president 
of  the  society,  Miss  Mary  Parker,  read  a  portion  of  the  Bible, 
and  then,  in  tones  heard  above  the  yellings  of  the  mob,  offered 
up  a  fervent  prayer  to  God  for  his  blessing  upon  the  cause  of 
the  bondman,  his  forgiveness  of  his  and  their  enemies,  and  his 
succor  and  protection  in  that  hour  of  peril.  While  the  secre 
tary  was  reading  the  annual  report,  amid  the  noisy  demon 
strations  of  the  mob,  Mayor  Lyman  entered  the  room.  He 
requested  and  entreated  the  ladies  to  dissolve  their  meeting, 
as  he  could  not  otherwise  preserve  the  peace.  Surrounded  by 
masses  of  excited  and  clamorous  men,  these  ladies  demanded 
of  the  mayor  protection  and  the  dispersion  of  the  mob.  But, 
though  confessing  it  to  be  his  duty  to  afford  them  protection, 
he  admitted  that  he  could  not  do  so.  The  meeting  then  ad 
journed,  and  the  rioters  rushed  into  the  room,  fiercely  de 
manding  Mr.  Garrison. 

At  the  earnest  solicitation  of  the  mayor,  in  order  that  he 
might  truthfully  assure  the  mob  that  he  was  not  in  the  build 
ing,  Mr.  Garrison  attempted  to  retire  quietly  to  his  residence 
by  a  back  passage.  But  he  was  quickly  discovered,  seized,  a 
rope  put  round  him,  his  hat  knocked  from  his  head  and  cut  in 
pieces,  and  his  clothes  torn  from  his  body.  Dragged  through 
Wilson's  Lane  into  State  Street,  he  was  rescued  by  the  mayor, 
his  posse,  and  several  respectable  citizens,  and  taken  into  the 
mayor's  room  in  the  old  State  House.  From  this  place  he 
was  conveyed  to  Leverett  Street  Jail,  to  save  him  from  the 
fury  of  the  mob. 

Upon  the  walls  of  that  prison  he  inscribed  these  words : 
"  William  Lloyd  Garrison  was  put  into  this  cell  on  Monday 
afternoon,  October  21st,  1835,  to  save  him  from  the  violence 
of  a  respectable  and  influential  mob,  who  sought  to  destroy 
him  for  preaching  the  abominable  and  dangerous  doctrine  that 
all  men  are  created  equal,  and  that  all  oppression  is  odious  in 
the  sight  of  God."  He  was  discharged  the  next  day  "  as  a 


WOMEN  MOBBED  IN  BOSTON.  285 

blameless  citizen,"  and  left  the  city  for  a  few  days,  at  the 
earnest  request  of  the  authorities. 

Thus  a  mob  of  thousands,  in  the  city  of  Boston,  assaulted 
a  meeting  of  Boston  ladies,  engaged  in  a  work  of  self-denying 
beneficence,  tore  down  and  dashed  in  pieces  their  office-sign, 
roughly  broke  into  their  hall,  dispersed  their  meeting,  laid 
violent  hands  upon  an  unoffending  citizen,  dragged  him  like  a 
culprit  through  the  streets,  and  threatened  him  with  further 
indignities  and  injuries,  from  which  he  was  only  saved  by  the 
friendly  shelter  of  a  prison.  And  this  mob  came  not  from  the 
purlieus  of  Fort  Hill  and  Ann  Street,  but  from  the  counting- 
rooms  of  State  Street  and  the  parlors  of  Beacon  Street.  And 
all  these  discreditable  acts  were  done,  in  the  language  of  one 
of  their  leading  organs,  "  to  assure  our  brethren  of  the  South 
that  we  cherish  rational  and  correct  notions  on  the  subject  of 
slavery. " 

On  the  evening  of  that  day  Francis  Jackson,  a  brother  and 
business  partner  of  William  Jackson,  then  in  Congress,  and  a 
gentleman  of  great  firmness  of  purpose,  addressed  a  letter  to 
the  ladies  of  the  Boston  Female  Antislavery  Society,  cordially 
offering  to  them  the  use  of  his  dwelling-house  in  Hollis  Street 
for  their  meetings.  This  generous  offer  was  gratefully  accept 
ed,  and  on  the  19th  of  November  about  one  hundred  and  thirty 
ladies  and  four  gentlemen  assembled  at  Mr.  Jackson's  house. 
At  that  meeting  Harriet  Martineau,  the  eminent  English  author 
ess,  then  on  a  visit  to  this  country,  was  present.  After  the 
transaction  of  business,  she,  at  the  request  of  Ellis  Gray  Lor- 
ing,  and  much  to  the  gratification  of  the  meeting,  gave  them 
these  words  of  hearty  indorsement :  "  I  had  supposed  that  my 
presence  here  would  be  understood  as  showing  my  sympathy 
with  you.  But,  as  I  am  requested  to  speak,  I  will  say  what  I 
have  said  through  the  whole  South,  in  every  family  where  I 
have  been,  that  I  consider  slavery  inconsistent  with  the  law 
of  God  and  incompatible  with  the  course  of  his  providence. 
I  should  certainly  say  no  less  at  the  North  than  at  the  South 
concerning  this  utter  abomination ;  and  I  now  declare  that  in 
your  principles  I  fully  agree."  This  eminent  woman,  distin 
guished  alike  for  her  philanthropic  and  literary  works,  was 


286        RISE   AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

soon  given  to  understand  that,  in  associating  with  the  pro 
scribed  Abolitionists,  and  in  avowing  her  assent  to  their  doc 
trines,  she  had  given  offence  to  the  fashionable  and  leading 
circles  of  American  society.  These  facts  and  incidents  con 
vey  their  own  moral,  and  indicate  without  commentary  the 
barbarism  of  slavery  and  the  rigorous  rule  of  the  Slave 
Power. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

RIOTOUS  DEMONSTRATIONS. 

Convention  at  Utica.  —  Mr.  Beardsley.  —  Joshua  A.  Spencer.  —  Hall  occupied  by 
Citizens.  —  Meeting  in  the  Church.  —  Society  formed.  —  Mob. —  Convention 
broken  up. — Members  insulted.  —  Gerrit  Smith.  —  Members  invited  to  meet 
at  Peterboro'.  —  Officers  of  the  Society  chosen.  —  Resolution  and  Speech  by  Mr. 
Smith. — Antislavery  Cause  placed  on  High  Principle. — SamuelJ.  May.  — 
Mob  in  Vermont.  —  Mr.  Knapp.  —  Colonel  Miller.  —  Years  of  Mobs.  —  Dedi 
cation  of  Pennsylvania  Hall.  —  Speeches  by  A  Ivan  Stewart.  —  Mr.  Garrison.  — 
Miss  Angelina  Grimke.  —  Miss  Abby  Kelley.  —  Mob.  —  Burning  of  Penn 
sylvania  Hall.  —  Impotence  of  City  Authorities. 

THERE  may  have  been  nothing  striking  or  peculiar  in  the  fact 
that  similar  demonstrations  of  this  violence  were  exhibited  and 
were  encountered  by  the  active  friends  of  freedom  throughout 
the  North.  Like  an  epidemic,  as  perhaps  it  was,  —  there  being 
moral  epidemics,  —  the  spirit  of  riot  seemed  to  rule  the  hour  ; 
or,  more  probable,  the  disease  being  generally  diffused,  conse 
quently,  when  the  proper  remedy  was  exhibited,  the  disturb 
ance  became  as  general  as  the  malady.  Hence,  on  the  same 
21st  of  October  on  which  occurred  the  disgraceful  scenes  in 
Boston,  similar  demonstrations  were  made  in  Central  New  York 
and  in  the  capital  of  Vermont. 

On  that  day  there  assembled  in  the  city  of  Utica  a  large  and 
imposing  convention  of  six  hundred  delegates  for  the  purpose 
of  forming  a  State  antislavery  society.  The  proposition  for  it 
came  from  Alvan  Stewart,  a  resident  of  that  city  and  president 
of  a  local  association  there.  The  court-house  had  been  en 
gaged  for  the  purpose.  When  it  became  known  that  the  con 
vention  was  to  be  holden  in  the  court-house,  by  the  consent  of 
the  city  council,  certain  persons,  styled  respectable  and  promi 
nent  gentlemen,  called  a  public  meeting,  and  adopted  measures 
for  the  occupation  of  the  same  room  on  the  day  the  convention 


288        RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

was  to  meet.  Samuel  Beardsley,  a  lawyer  of  that  city,  a  Demo 
cratic  member  of  Congress,  declared  in  the  most  emphatic  man 
ner  that  "  it  would  be  better  to  have  Utica  razed  to  its  founda 
tions,  to  have  it  destroyed  like  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  than  to 
have  the  convention  meet  here." 

This  absurd  declaration  —  so  like  the  man  who,  in  the  de 
bate  on  the  United  States  Bank,  won  the  famous  soubriquet  of 
"Perish  credit,  perish  commerce "  Beardsley  —  received  the 
indorsement  of  the  meeting ;  and  it  forthwith  resolved  to  pre 
vent,  if  possible,  the  assembling  of  the  convention.  That  most 
eminent  citizen  of  the  place,  Joshua  A.  Spencer,  a  lawyer  of 
commanding  ability,  though  not  an  Abolitionist,  strenuously 
opposed  the  measure,  and  vindicated  the  right  of  free  discus 
sion.  When  the  delegates  assembled,  they  found  the  court 
house  occupied  by  a  crowd  of  excited  and  maddened  citizens. 
Repairing  to  the  Second  Presbyterian  church,  they  organized 
the  convention  by  the  election  of  Judge  Brewster  of  Genesee 
County  for  president,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Wet-more  of  Utica,  who 
had  been  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  as  secretary.  Alvan 
Stewart  reported  the  draft  of  a  constitution,  which  was 
adopted,  and  the  State  Antislavery  Society  was  formed,  while 
the  crowd  without  was  clamoring  for  admission.  Lewis  Tap- 
pan  then  commenced  reading  the  Declaration  of  Sentiments. 
While  thus  engaged,  the  mob  broke  into  the  church  and  en 
deavored  to  prevent  the  reading ;  but  with  his  usual  persist 
ency,  he  continued  until  it  was  finished,  when  the  paper  was 
adopted  by  a  rising  vote. 

A  committee  of  twenty-five  from  the  meeting  at  the  court 
house  then  came  forward,  headed  by  Judge  Chester  Hayden, 
and  presented  a  series  of  condemnatory  resolutions.  When 
the  resolutions  had  been  read,  the  rioters,  drunk  with  passion 
and  poor  liquor,  belched  forth  their  maledictions.  The  chair 
man  of  the  committee,  addressing  the  rioters  as  his  friends, 
expressed  the  hope  that  they  would  permit  the  convention  to 
answer  the  accusations  made  against  it.  Mr.  Beardsley,  too, 
would  have  his  friends  "  exercise  patience  and  long-suffering, 
even  toward  such  an  assembly  as  this."  He  wished  to  know 
what  apology  the  convention  could  make.  "  They  profess," 


RIOTOUS   DEMONSTRATIONS   IN  NEW   YORK.  289 

he  said,  "  to  come  here  on  an  errand  of  religion ;  while  under 
disguise  they  are  hypocritically  plotting  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union.  They  have  been  warned  beforehand,  have  been  treated 
with  unexampled  patience  ;  and,  if  they  now  refuse  to  yield  to 
our  demands,  and  any  unpleasant  circumstance  should  follow, 
we  shall  not  be  responsible." 

His  inflammatory  and  seditious  harangue,  whether  so  de 
signed  or  not,  had  the  effect  to  further  exasperate  the  rioters. 
Curses,  imprecations,  and  blasphemies  filled  the  air,  and  threats 
of  violence  were  freely  made  and  reiterated.  The  convention 
hurriedly  adjourned,  and  members  of  the  committee  demanded 
of  the  venerable  secretary  the  record  of  its  proceedings.  Re 
fusing  to  yield  the  record,  he  was  seized  by  the  collar  and 
threatened  with  violence.  "  A  member  of  the  committee  of 
twenty-five,"  says  Samuel  J.  May,  "  a  man  holding  an  impor 
tant  public  office,  raised  his  cane  over  the  head  of  that  venera 
ble  minister  of  the  gospel,  and  cried  out ;  '  Give  the  papers 
up,  or  I  will  strike  you  on  the  head.'  At  this,  another  of  the 
committee,  a  young  man,  his  son,  sprang  forward  and  begged 
him :  '  Do,  father,  give  them  up,  and  save  your  life.  Give 
them  to  me,  and  I  will  pledge  myself  to  give  them  to  you 
again.' '  With  this  Mr.  Wetmore  complied,  and  he  was  let 
off  without  further  harm. 

The  mob  triumphed  ;  but  the  society  was  formed.  Amid 
those  scenes  of  lawlessness,  brutality,  and  violence  the  consti 
tution  and  Declaration  of  Sentiments  were  adopted,  though  no 
officers  were  elected,  nor  could  any  more  business  be  trans 
acted.  In  the  public  houses,  in  the  streets,  wherever  they  were 
seen,  the  members  of  the  convention  were  insulted.  It  had 
been  announced  in  advance  that  Lewis  Tappan  would  be 
mobbed  if  he  attended  the  convention.  To  a  man  like  Lewis 
Tappan  such  a  menace  acted  rather  as  a  provocation  than  a 
dissuasive  ;  and,  though  it  had  been  his  purpose  not  to  attend, 
this  threat  made  him  feel  that  it  was  his  duty  to  be  there.  His 
presence,  naturally  enough,  and  that  of  a  few  other  well-known 
Abolitionists,  exasperated  the  rioters  and  excited  them  to  more 
extreme  violence. 

Gerrit  Smith  was  present,  though  not  a  delegate ;  nor  did 

37 


290       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

he  intend  to  take  any  part  in  its  proceedings.  His  large- 
hearted  benevolence  and  antecedents,  however,  prevented  in 
difference  and  lack  of  interest  in  such  a  meeting,  called 
for  such  a  purpose.  His  father  had  been  a  gentleman  of 
vast  wealth,  of  great  landed  possessions,  and  a  slaveholder. 
Though  he  saw  slavery  in  its  mildest  forms,  he  early  realized 
that  it  was  unjust,  and  he  had  hailed  the  day  when  it  was 
utterly  extinguished  in  his  native  State.  He  had  welcomed 
the  Colonization  Society,  largely  contributed  to  its  funds,  and, 
though  his  views  had  been  modified  by  the  discussions  which  had 
taken  place,  had,  up  to  that  time,  continued  to  entertain  some 
degree  of  confidence  in  it.  Becoming  convinced,  however,  that 
its  tendency  was  proslavery  rather  than  antislavery,  he  paid 
into  its  treasury  the  balance  of  a  subscription  amounting  to 
three  thousand  dollars,  and  abandoned  it  forever.  He  came  to 
the  Utica  convention  to  see  for  himself.  The  scenes  he  there 
witnessed  aroused  and  alarmed  him.  He  could  hesitate  no 
longer.  He  felt  that  the  time  for  him  to  act  had  come.  He 
invited  the  members  of  the  convention  to  meet  in  his  township 
of  Peterboro'.  A  portion  accepted  his  invitation,  and  on  their 
arrival  there  were  cordially  received  by  Mr.  Smith  and  his 
neighbors.  About  three  hundred  members  of  the  society  were 
present,  officers  were  elected,  and  its  organization  completed. 

At  that  meeting  Mr.  Smith  introduced  a  resolution  declaring 
that  the  right  of  free  discussion,  given  by  God,  and  asserted 
and  guarded  by  the  laws  of  the  country,  was  one  so  vital  to  the 
freedom,  dignity,  and  usefulness  of  man  that  it  could  not  be 
surrendered  without  consenting  to  exchange  liberty  for  slav 
ery,  and  dignity  and  usefulness  for  debasement  and  worthless- 
ness.  He  supported  his  resolution  in  a  speech  of  rare  and 
convincing  force.  Placing  free  discussion  on  the  basis  of  a 
Divine  right,  he  wanted  men  to  defend  it  on  the  ground  that 
God  gave  it.  "  It  is  not  to  be  disguised,"  he  said,  "  that  war 
has  broken  out  between  the  South  and  the  North,  not  early  to 
be  terminated.  Political  and  commercial  men,  for  their  own 
purposes,  are  industriously  striving  to  restore  peace  ;  but  the 
peace  they  accomplish  will  be  superficial  and  hollow.  True 
and  permanent  peace  can  only  be  restored  by  removing  the 


BIOTOUS  DEMONSTRATIONS  IN  NEW  YORK  AND  VERMONT.      291 

cause  of  the  war,  —  that  is,  slavery.  It  cannot  ever  be  estab 
lished  on  any  other  terms.  The  sword,  now  drawn,  will  not 
be  sheathed  until  the  deep  and  damning  stain  is  washed  out 
from  our  nation.  It  is  idle,  criminal,  to  speak  of  peace  on  any 
other  terms."  He  declared  that  he  did  not  wish  to  muster  on 
their  side,  in  the  great  battle  between  liberty  and  slavery,  those 
who  were  willing  to  leave  their  countrymen  to  the  tender  mer 
cies  of  slavery  forever.  But  they  wanted  that  class,  be  it  ever 
so  small,  who  "  will  stand  on  the  rock  of  Christian  principle." 
This  language  was  discriminating  and  prophetic.  Seldom,  dur 
ing  the  thirty  years'  struggle  then  commencing,  was  it  ever 
more  correctly  characterized.  It  placed  the  cause  of  emanci 
pation  on  the  high  plane  of  conscience  and  religious  obligation, 
and  foreshadowed  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  great  problem  be 
fore  them  which  only  the  fewness  and  lukewarmness  of  its 
friends  and  the  madness  of  its  foes  prevented. 

In  October  of  the  same  year,  Samuel  J.  May  gave  several 
lectures  in  Vermont,  where  he  was  five  times  mobbed.  He 
was  invited  to  address  the  Vermont  Antislavery  Society  at 
Montpelier,  during  the  session  of  the  legislature.  The  hall  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  was  obtained  for  his  first  meet 
ing,  which  was  held  on  the  evening  of  the  20th  of  October. 
The  hall  was  filled,  many  members  of  the  legislature  being 
present.  Eggs  and  stones  were  thrown  through  the  windows, 
Mr.  May  only  pausing  to  say,  as  they  passed  by  :  "  Ah,  we  are 
contending  with  greater  evils  than  these !  "  Chauncey  L. 
Knapp,  then  a  publisher  of  the  "  State  Journal,"  afterward  a 
member  of  Congress  from  Massachusetts,  here  arose  and  ap 
pealed  to  the  sheriff  of  the  county,  who  was  present,  to  arrest 
those  outside  who  were  disturbing  the  meeting.  But  that 
functionary  shrank  from  the  performance  of  his  duty. 

At  the  close  of  the  meeting  Mr.  May  was  invited  to  address 
the  people  in  the  largest  church  in  the  village,  and  accepted 
the  invitation.  The  next  day  placards  were  posted  through 
the  town  warning  the  people  against  attending  the  meeting, 
as  it  would  be  broken  up  by  violence.  In  the  afternoon  of 
that  day,  while  the  gentlemen  of  Boston  were  assaulting  the 
Female  Antislavery  Society  in  that  city  and  the  mob  in 


292       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

Utica  was  dispersing  the  convention  there,  the  president  of  the 
bank,  the  postmaster,  and  five  other  leading  citizens  of  the 
capital  of  Vermont  addressed  a  letter  to  Mr.  May,  requesting 
him  to  leave  the  town  "  without  any  further  attempt  to  hold 
forth  the  absurd  doctrines  of  antislavery,  and  save  them  the 
trouble  of  using  any  other  measures  to  that  effect."  Though 
a  gentleman  of  marked  gentleness  of  manner  and  speech, 
he  was  not  the  man  to  be  deterred  from  the  performance 
of  a  high  duty  by  such  a  request,  nor  by  any  menace,  however 
violent. 

At  the  hour  appointed,  a  prayer  having  been  offered  by  Rev. 
Mr.  Hurlburt,  Mr.  May  rose  to  address  the  meeting,  which 
thronged  the  house.  Scarcely  had  he  uttered  a  sentence 
when  the  ringleader  of  the  mob,  Mr.  Hubbard,  president  of 
the  bank,  rose  in  the  midst  of  a  gang  of  rowdies,  and  peremp 
torily  demanded  that  he  should  refrain  from  speaking.  To 
this  demand  he  replied :  "  Is  this  the  respect  paid  to  the 
liberty  of  speech  by  the  free  people  of  Vermont  ?  Let  any 
one  of  your  number  step  forward  and  give  reasons  why  his 
fellow-citizens,  who  wish,  should  not  be  permitted  to  hear 
the  lecture  I  have  been  invited  here  to  deliver.  If  I  cannot 
show  these  reasons  to  be  fallacious,  I  will  yield  to  your  de 
mand.  But,  for  the  sake  of  our  essential  rights,  I  shall  pro 
ceed,  if  I  can." 

Commencing  his  lecture  anew,  he  was  again  assailed  by 
boisterous  outcries  from  Hubbard  and  his  associates.  Mr. 
Knapp  remonstrated  against  such  proceedings,  and  implored 
the  people  to  desist  from  a  proceeding  so  disgraceful.  But  his 
words  were  unheeded  by  the  mob,  which,  with  noisy  threats, 
rushed  toward  the  pulpit.  At  that  moment  Colonel  Miller,  a 
brave  coadjutor  of  Dr.  Samuel  G.  Howe  in  the  Greek  Revolu 
tion,  a  man  of  well-known  courage  and  great  physical  power, 
stepped  forward  in  front  of  the  advancing  rioters,  and  said  to 
Mr.  Hubbard,  their  leader,  "  If  you  do  not  stop  this  outrage 
now,  I  '11  knock  you  down."  The  advancing  mob  was  checked ; 
but  the  people  were  alarmed  and  hurried  from  the  house,  the 
meeting  was  broken  up,  and  the  purposes  of  the  ruffians  were 
accomplished. 


EIOTOUS    DEMONSTKATIONS   IN   PENNSYLVANIA.  293 

An  account  of  these  disgraceful  proceedings  was  published 
by  Mr.  Knapp,  and  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  general 
awakening  of  the  people  of  the  State.  This  exposure  of  the 
rioters  and  of  the  disgraceful  conduct  of  their  ringleaders, 
headed  by  a  bank  president,  brought  down  upon  him  threats 
of  violence  ;  but  they  ended  in  nothing  more  serious  than  the 
removal  of  his  office-sign,  which  was  flung  into  the  river. 

These  high-handed  outrages,  perpetrated  on  the  same  day 
in  Boston,  Montpelier,  and  Utica,  were  noised  abroad  ;  and 
though  deprecated  and  condemned  by  the  faithful  few  were 
generally  applauded,  alike  at  the  North  and  South,  by  those 
who  considered  Abolitionists  out  of  the  pale  of  legal  protec 
tion,  to  be  treated  as  the  enemies  of  their  country  and  race. 

The  riotous  demonstrations  which  had  marked  the  year 
1834  seemed  to  culminate  in  the  year  1835,  in  which  a  reign 
of  terror  prevailed  throughout  the  free  States.  Churches  and 
public  halls  were  assaulted,  life  and  limb  were  endangered, 
antislavery  speakers  were  rudely  and  roughly  handled,  and 
often  placed  in  circumstances  of  imminent  peril.  Rev.  Jona 
than  Blanchard,  afterward  president  of  Wheaton  College,  spent 
a  portion  of  that  year  in  delivering  lectures  in  Pennsylvania. 
Within  the  brief  space  of  one  month,  twenty-five  of  thirty 
meetings  were  interrupted,  and  many  of  them  broken  up. 

Henry  B.  Stanton,  on  leaving  Lane  Seminary,  was  at  once 
employed  as  lecturer  and  agent  of  the  American  Antislavery 
Society.  Being  earnest,  enthusiastic,  and  eloquent,  he  took 
his  place  at  once  among  the  most  prominent  and  popular  of 
the  antislavery  orators  of  that  day.  Between  that  time  and 
the  year  1840,  when  he  was  sent  to  England  to  attend  the 
World's  Convention,  he  delivered  in  New  England,  New  York, 
and  Pennsylvania  more  than  one  thousand  addresses  and  lec 
tures.  Though  he  was  resolute,  adroit,  and  magnetic,  and,  of 
course,  had  uncommon  power  over  popular  assemblies,  more 
than  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  those  meetings  were  interrupted 
and  partially  or  completely  broken  up  by  violence. 

Theodore  D.  Weld,  leaving  Lane  Seminary  at  the  same 
time,  engaged  for  two  or  three  years  in  the  same  work, 
—  mainly  in  the  Central  States  and  the  West.  He,  too, 


294       RISE   AND   FALL    OF   THE    SLAVE   POWER   IN    AMERICA. 

possessed  in  an  eminent  degree  those  rare  gifts  of  oratory 
whose  mission  it  generally  is  to  soothe  and  subdue  as  well  as 
to  thrill  and  convince.  And  yet  the  demoniac  rage  of  those 
proslavery  times  was  too  great  for  even  his  persuasive  powers ; 
and  he,  too,  passed  through  a  continual  series  of  like  outrages, 
many  of  which,  especially  at  the  West,  were  of  a  most  brutal 
and  violent  character.  And  these  are  but  illustrations  of  those 
dark  and  troublous  times  in  which  the  early  pioneers  of  imme 
diate  emancipation  were  called  to  act,  and  in  which  they  re 
vealed  the  strength  of  their  principles,  the  firmness  of  their 
purposes,  and  the  heroism  of  their  characters. 

Among  the  deeds  of  lawlessness  which  characterized  those 
days,  the  burning  of  Pennsylvania  Hall  stands  out  in  disgrace 
ful  pre-eminence,  in  which  the  violence  of  the  mob  was  only 
equalled  by  the  pusillanimity  of  the  city  government.  Ex 
cluded  from  churches  and  halls,  the  Abolitionists  and  other 
friends  of  free  discussion  in  Philadelphia  erected  in  that  city,  at 
the  cost  of  about  forty  thousand  dollars,  Pennsylvania  Hall. 
It  was  dedicated  on  the  14th  of  May,  1838,  and  David  Paul 
Brown  was  selected  as  the  orator  of  the  occasion.  LIBERTY 
was  the  theme  of  his  eloquent  oration.  A  poetical  address, 
from  the  pen  of  John  G.  Whittier,  was  read  by  Charles  C.  Bur- 
leigh.  Letters  were  received  and  read  from  the  most  eminent 
lawyers  of  the  State. 

Walter  Forward,  afterward  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in 
response  to  the  invitation  to  be  present,  wrote  that  the  right 
to  speak,  to  write,  and  to  petition  governments  must  not  be 
abridged,  questioned,  or  surrendered.  "  They  are  to  be,"  he 
said,  "  fearlessly  asserted  at  all  times,  in  all  places,  and  under 
all  circumstances."  Thomas  Morris,  then  senator  from  Ohio, 
sent  a  long,  earnest,  and  eloquent  letter,  in  which  the  right  of 
"  free  discussion  —  discussion  without  fear  of  the  pistol  of  the 
duellist,  the  knife  of  the  assassin,  the  fagot  of  the  incendiary, 
or  the  still  more  dangerous  fury  of  the  unbridled  mob  "  —  was 
declared  to  be  a  right  the  people  must  and  would  have.  The 
Rev.  Dr.  S.  S.  Beman  of  the  State  of  New  York,  who,  twelve 
years  later,  like  too  many  of  the  early  advocates  of  freedom 
that  faltered  and  yielded  to  the  fearful  pressure,  gave  in  his  ad- 


RIOTOUS  DEMONSTRATIONS   IN   PENNSYLVANIA.  295 

hesion  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act,  could  not  be  present ;  but  he 
sent  an  expression  of  his  abhorrence  of  chains  and  stripes,  and 
the  joy  he  felt  that  there  was  a  spirit  in  existence  and  awake 
in  Philadelphia  which  "  will  not  bow  to  the  altar  of  slavery,  nor 
tamely  submit  to  the  dictation  of  those  who  declare  in  high 
places  that  it  is  a  wise  and  holy  institution,  and  that  it  shall  be 
perpetual." 

During  three  days  meetings  were  held  and  speeches  were 
made  to  crowded  assemblies  for  temperance,  for  the  Indian, 
and  for  the  slave.  Alvan  Stewart  spoke  of  the  hall  they  were 
then  consecrating  to  free  discussion,  and  which  the  mob  was 
so  soon  to  give  to  the  flames,  as  "  Pity's  home,"  the  spot  to 
which  "  the  pilgrim  of  humanity  "  would  come,  the  u  resting- 
place  of  the  fugitive,"  "  the  slave's  audience-chamber,"  around 
which  "  the  sympathies  of  noble  hearts  and  the  prayers  of  the 
poor  would  gather."  Charles  C.  Burleigh,  Alanson  St.  Clair, 
Arnold  Buffum,  and  others,  joined  in  dedicating  that  hall  to 
the  rights  and  interests  of  humanity. 

At  that  time  a  national  convention  of  antislavery  women 
was  sitting  in  the  same  city,  and  it  was  announced  that  some 
of  its  members  would  address  the  audience  on  the  evening  of 
the  third  day.  The  room  was  thronged,  and  thousands  went 
away,  unable  to  find  entrance.  A  vast  crowd  gathered  outside 
of  the  building,  volleys  of  stones  were  hurled  against  the  win 
dows,  and  the  audience  was  interrupted  with  yells  and  other 
riotous  demonstrations  of  a  determination  to  break  up  the 
meeting.  Many,  too,  within  the  hall,  joined  in  this  attempt. 

Mr.  Garrison,  referring  to  the  sneers  of  the  slaveholders  and 
their  allies  against  the  labors  of  the  women,  maintained  that 
every  good  cause  ultimately  triumphed  which  received  their 
support ;  and  he  averred  that  West  India  emancipation  was 
"  mainly  owing,  under  God,  to  the  quenchless  devotion,  un 
tiring  zeal,  and  indomitable  perseverance  of  the  women  of  Eng 
land."  In  the  presence  of  the  disorderly  spirits  within  and 
without  the  building,  who  sought  to  silence  the  voice  of  free 
discussion,  he  proclaimed  that  there  should  be  no  silence  until 
the  howlings  of  the  bereaved  slave-mother  were  turned  into 
shouts  of  joy. 


296       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

In  the  midst  of  these  shoutings  and  the  tumult  of  the  riot 
ers,  Mrs.  Maria  W.  Chapman  of  Boston  arose,  and  calmly  ex- 
pressed  her  earnest  desire  that  "  the  spirit  of  Divine  truth 
might  so  far  penetrate  the  hearts  of  all  present  that  they  would 
be  prepared  to  listen  to  the  wail  now  coming  up  to  them  from 
the  burning  fields  of  the  South."  Miss  Angelina  Grimk£ 
then  addressed  the  stormy  assemblage,  pleading  with  earnest, 
tender,  and  persuasive  eloquence  the  cause  of  the  slave.  She 
said  she  was  brought  up  under  the  wing  of  slavery,  had  seen 
its  horrors  and  witnessed  its  demoralizing  influences.  She 
had  never  seen  "  a  happy  slave,"  though  she  had  seen  him 
"  dance  in  his  chains."  Declaring  that  men  who  held  the  rod 
over  the  slave  ruled  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  she,  as  a 
Southern  woman,  attached  to  the  land  of  her  birth,  appealed 
to  the  women  of  Philadelphia  to  imitate  the  zeal  and  love,  faith 
and  works,  of  their  English  sisters  for  the  deliverance  of  the 
oppressed. 

This  eloquent  Southern  woman,  self-exiled  from  her  native 
State  because  of  her  abhorrence  of  slavery,  was  followed  by 
Miss  Abby  Kelley  of  Massachusetts.  Miss  Kelley  was  a  young 
lady  of  superior  abilities,  personal  attractions,  and  accomplish 
ments.  Early  accepting  the  doctrine  of  immediate  emancipa 
tion,  she  zealously  espoused  the  cause  of  freedom  and  conse 
crated  to  its  advocacy  time,  talent,  property,  and  health.  For 
more  than  a  generation  she  labored  with  tireless  energy  in  that 
self-denying  service.  If  her  stern  and  unsparing  denunciations 
against  slaveholders  and  their  allies  were  sometimes  applied, 
with  too  little  discrimination,  to  those  who  did  not  fully  accept 
her  views  and  adopt  her  modes  of  action  in  their  opposition 
to  slavery  and  the  Slave  Power,  none  who  knew  her  failed  to 
recognize  the  sincerity  of  her  convictions  and  the  integrity  of 
her  purpose. 

Rising  on  that  occasion  to  address,  as  she  said,  for  the  first 
time,  a  promiscuous  assembly,  she  declared  that  it  was  not 
"  the  maddening  rush  of  those  voices,"  nor  "  the  crashing  of 
those  windows  "  that  called  her  before  them ;  but  it  was  "  the 
still,  small  voice  within  "  that  bade  her  open  her  mouth  for  the 
dumb,  and  plead  the  cause  of  God's  perishing  poor. 


RIOTOUS  DEMONSTRATIONS   IN  PENNSYLVANIA.  297 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  17th  the  mob  began  again  to 
assemble  about  the  hall.  The  board  of  managers  called  upon 
the  police  and  the  'mayor  for  protection ;  but  the  day  passed 
without  any  efficient  measures  by  these  officials  for  the  dis 
persion  of  the  rioters  and  the  promotion  of  order.  But  about 
sunset  the  mayor  informed  the  board  that  he  would  disperse 
the  mob  if  the  building  was  placed  in  his  hands.  The  keys 
were  accordingly  given  to  him :  and  he  addressed  the  riotous 
assemblage,  assuring  them  that  there  would  be  no  meeting 
that  evening,  as  the  building  had  been  given  up  to  the  authori 
ties  for  protection.  He  reminded  the  excited  and  lawless  thou 
sands  before  him  that  he  looked  on  them  as  his  police  ;  for,  he 
said,  "  we  never  call  out  the  military  here."  Bidding  the 
crowd  good  night,  he  retired  to  his  office. 

The  mob,  separating  for  a  short  time,  immediately  re-assem 
bled  before  the  hall,  and  commenced  their  assaults  upon  its 
doors  and  windows.  Summoning  his  force  of  police  and  fire- 
companies,  the  mayor  found  himself  utterly  powerless  for  the 
protection  of  the  hall ;  and  that  beautiful  building,  consecrated 
to  freedom  and  to  free  discussion,  was  soon  enveloped  in  flames. 
It  is  estimated  that  fifteen  thousand  persons  looked  on  that 
work  of  destruction,  unable,  if  willing,  to  stay  its  progress. 
Having  accomplished  their  object,  the  rioters,  with  character 
istic  cowardice,  meanness,  and  brutality,  assailed,  during  the 
next  two  days,  the  negroes  of  the  city.  They  attacked  and  set 
fire  to  "the  shelter  for  colored  orphans,"  a  charitable  insti 
tution,  having  no  connection  with  the  Abolitionists.  Bethel 
Church  was  attacked  and  damaged  ;  and  the  private  dwellings 
of  colored  persons  were  surrounded,  and  their  inmates  threat 
ened  with  violence.  The  conduct  of  the  mayor  and  the  city 
authorities  throughout  this  affair  was  utterly  inefficient,  and 
in  the  highest  degree  discreditable.  Liberty,  justice,  and  law 
were  sacrificed  by  them  on  the  altar  of  prejudice  against  race 
and  color. 

The  police  committee  afterward  sought  to  screen  themselves 
from  deserved  reproach,  in  an  official  report,  by  apologizing  for 
the  atrocities  of  the  mob  and  criminating  the  Abolitionists  as 
the  really  guilty  parties.  The  excitement,  they  contended,  was 

38 


298        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

occasioned  by  the  determination  of  the  owners  of  the  building 
to  persevere  in  openly  promulgating  in  it  "  doctrines  repulsive 
to  the  moral  sense  of  a  large  majority  of  our  community." 

That  impotent  report,  with  its  false  assumptions,  reckless 
assertions,  and  evasive  statements,  only  demonstrated  the  fee 
bleness  and  imbecility  of  the  civil  authority  and  police  force 
of  Philadelphia,  and  was  but  a  poor  apology  for  manifest 
neglect  of  public  duty.  The  actors  themselves  in  those  scenes 
of  arson  and  brutality  were  generally  actuated  by  low,  vulgar, 
and  malicious  hatred  of  the  African  race  ;  while  too  many  of 
the  thousands  who  witnessed  those  lawless  deeds,  stood  by 
inactive,  and  saw  the  incendiary  torch  applied  to  that  magnifi 
cent  hall,  erected  and  consecrated  to  freedom  of  speech,  were 
impelled  by  the  unmanly  desire  to  propitiate  Southern  favor, 
the  sordid  greed  of  Southern  gain,  and  the  ignoble  fear  of 
Southern  offence. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

SLAVERY   AND   THE   SLAVE-TRADE  IN  THE   DISTRICT   OF  COLUMBIA. 

The  Seat  of  Government.  —  Sectional  Claims.  —  Capital  fixed  on  Slave  Soil.  — 
Slave  Codes  of  Virginia  and  Maryland  indorsed.  —  Inhumanity  of  the  Slave 
Laws.  —  Jails  used  by  Slave-traders.  —  Randolph's  Resolution.  —  Speech.  — 
Judge  Morrell.  —  Petition  of  the  Citizens  against  the  Traffic.  —  Mr.  Miner's 
Resolutions  and  Speech.  —  Resolutions  adopted.  —  Committee.  —  Communica 
tion  of  the  Grand  Jury  against  the  Slave-trade.  — Slave-traders  licensed  by 
the  City  of  Washington.  —  Men  and  "Women  whipped  on  their  bare  backs.  — 
Laws  against  Free  Negroes.  — Responsibility  of  the  Northern  People.  —  Arrest, 
Imprisonment,  and  Trial  of  Dr.  Reuben  Crandall. 

THE  Constitution  having  conferred  upon  Congress  sole  ju 
risdiction  in  all  cases  whatsoever  over  a  territory  not  exceeding 
ten  miles  square,  to  be  ceded  to  the  Federal  government  as 
the  capital  of  the  nation,  the  question  of  location  came  up 
toward  the  close  of  its  first  session.  It  excited  the  deepest 
interest,  and  the  strongest  sectional  feelings  were  manifested. 
The  Eastern  States  would  have  been  content  to  retain  the  seat 
of  government  in  the  city  of  New  York.  Pennsylvania  sought 
to  win  it  back  to  Philadelphia.  Southern  members  insisted 
upon  locating  it  upon  the  Potomac.  Eastern  members,  sup 
ported  by  Pennsylvania,  strove  to  conciliate  the  South  by  a 
proposition  to  locate  it  on  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna ;  but 
that  proposition  was  strenuously  resisted.  The  House  was 
told  by  even  the  moderate  Mr.  Madison  that,  "  if  that  day's 
proceedings  had  been  foreseen,  Virginia  would  never  have  rati 
fied  the  Constitution."  These  conflicting  claims  and  sectional 
interests  defeated,  at  that  session,  all  propositions  for  the  lo 
cation  of  the  national  capital  either  on  the  Susquehanna,  the 
Delaware,  or  the  Potomac.  At  the  next,  however,  a  "  bar 
gain  "  was  consummated,  by  which  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  after  taking  the  yeas  and  nays  thirteen  times,  decided, 


300        KISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

by  a  majority  of  three,  in  favor  of  the  Potomac.  Thus  the 
capital  of  the  new  republic  was  placed  on  soil  then  and  thence 
forward  polluted  by  the  system  of  human  slavery,  and  two 
generations  of  statesmen  have  thus  been  surrounded  by  the 
perverting  and  blinding  influences  of  slaveholding  society. 

Instead  of  providing  a  code  of  humane,  equal,  and  uniform 
laws  for  the  government  of  the  territory  ceded  by  Maryland 
and  Virginia,  Congress  enacted,  on  the  27th  of  February, 
1801,  that  the  laws  of  the  former  should  be  enforced  on  the 
north  side  and  those  of  the  latter  on  the  south  side  of  the 
Potomac.  Thus  the  nation,  by  accepting  and  adopting  as  its 
own  these  cruel  and  revolting  statutes,  became  guilty  of  the 
astounding  inconsistency  of  enacting  for  the  capital  of  a  Chris 
tian  republic,  just  starting  on  its  national  career,  the  colonial 
legislation  of  a  monarchial  government  adopted  for  the  con 
trol  of  the  wild  hordes  from  Africa  which  its  policy  had  forced 
upon  them. 

In  1827  the  House  Committee  of  the  District  of  Columbia 
affirmed,  in  a  report,  that  "  in  this  District,  as  in  all  slavehold 
ing  States,  the  legal  presumption  is  that  persons  of  color  going 
at  large,  without  any  evidences  of  their  freedom,  are  abscond 
ing  slaves,  and  prima  facie  liable  to  all  the  legal  provisions 
applicable  to  that  class  of  persons."  This  committee  further 
stated  that  in  the  portion  of  the  District  ceded  by  Virginia  "  a 
free  negro  may  be  arrested  and  put  in  jail  for  three  months 
on  suspicion  of  being  a  fugitive,  then  to  be  hired  out  to  pay 
his  jail  fees ;  and,  if  he  does  not  prove  his  freedom  within 
twelve  months,  to  be  sold  as  a  slave."  And  in  the  territory 
ceded  by  Maryland,  it  reported  that  "  if  a  free  man  of  color 
should  be  apprehended  as  a  runaway,  he  is  subjected  to  the 
payment  of  all  fines  and  rewards  given  by  law  for  the  appre 
hension  of  runaways ;  and,  on  failure  to  make  such  payment, 
is  liable  to  be  sold  as  a  slave."  Thus  by  the  act  of,  the  nation, 
for  which  the  whole  people  were  responsible,  a  colored  citizen 
visiting  its  capital  was  "  by  legal  presumption  an  absconding 
slave,"  and  "  might  be  apprehended  as  a  runaway,"  be  "  sub 
jected  to  the  payment  of  fines  and  rewards,"  or  be  "  sold  as 
a  slave  for  the  payment  of  jail  fees." 


SLAVERY  AND  SLAVE-TRADE  IN  THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA.    301 

By  a  statute  of  Maryland,  enacted  in  1717,  and  continued 
in  force  by  act  of  Congress,  the  testimony  of  no  free  negro  or 
mulatto  could  be  received  as  evidence  in  any  matter  whatever 
wherein  any  white  person  was  concerned.  This  legal  pre 
sumption  that  color  was  evidence  of  servitude,  this  act  invali 
dating  the  testimony  of  persons  of  color,  placed  the  property, 
the  liberty,  and  the  lives  of  free  persons  of  color  in  the  capital 
of  the  nation  at  the  mercy  of  avaricious,  violent,  and  aban 
doned  white  men.  Every  colored  man  whose  feet  pressed  the 
soil  of  the  District  was  presumed  to  be  a  slave,  and  his  tes 
timony  afforded  him  no  protection  whatever.  Greedy  and 
grasping  avarice  might  withhold  from  him  the  fruits  of  his  toil, 
or  clutch  from  him  his  little  acquisitions  ;  the  brutal  might  visit 
upon  him,  his  wife,  and  his  children,  insults,  indignities,  blows ; 
the  kidnapper  might  enter  his  dwelling  and  seize  and  drag  his 
loved  ones  from  his  hearthstone ;  every  outrage  the  depravity 
of  man  could  invent  or  suggest  might  be  perpetrated  on  him, 
his  family,  his  race,  —  but  his  oath  on  the  Evangelists,  though 
his  name  might  be  written  in  the  Book  of  Life,  could  neither 
protect  him  from  wrong  nor  punish  the  wrong-doer. 

These  laws  and  ordinances,  sanctioned  by  Congress,  and 
for  which  the  people  of  the  United  States  were  responsible, 
bore  the  legitimate  fruits  of  injustice  and  inhumanity,  dis 
honor  and  shame.  Crimes  against  persons  of  African  descent 
were  often  perpetrated  in  the  national  capital.  They  were 
seized,  imprisoned,  fined,  and  sometimes  sold  into  perpetual 
servitude.  The  laws  offered  tempting  bribes  to  the  base,  the 
selfish,  and  the  unprincipled  to  become  manstealers  and  kid 
nappers.  These  bribes  converted  government  officials  not 
only  into  slave-catchers,  but  also  into  slave  manufacturers. 
Thousands  of  persons  of  African  descent  were  seized  and  im 
prisoned,  and  the  jail  became  a  work-shop,  where  the  sordid 
and  cruel  traffickers  plied  their  trade  in  the  bodies  and  souls 
of  men. 

The  augmented  value  of  slave  labor  gave  increasing  activity 
to  the  domestic  slave-traffic,  and  the  capital  early  became  a 
great  slave-mart.  There  grew  up  a  race  of  official  and  un 
official  man-hunters,  greedy,  active,  dexterous  ;  ever  ready, 


302        RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN   AMERICA. 

by  falsehood,  trickery,  and  violence,  to  clutch  the  black  man 
who  carried  not  with  him  his  title  to  freedom. 

The  atrocities  there  perpetrated  moved  to  indignation  John 
Randolph,  though  ever  vigilant  in  watching  the  interests  of 
slave-masters  and  ever  ready  to  defend  the  slave  system.  He 
submitted  a  resolution  in  1816  for  the  appointment  of  a  com 
mittee  to  consider  the  expediency  of  putting  an  end  to  the 
slave-trade  in  the  District.  He  denounced  it  as  a  "  nefarious  " 
traffic,  "  in  comparison  with  which  the  traffic  from  Africa  to 
Jamaica  is  a  mercy,  —  a  virtue."  He  invoked  the  House  to 
put  a  stop  "  to  a  practice  not  surpassed  for  abomination  in  any 
part  of  the  world."  "  Not  even  upon  the  rivers  upon  the  Afri 
can  coast,"  said  he,  "  is  there  so  great  and  nefarious  a  slave- 
market  as  in  this  metropolis,  the  very  seat  of  government  of 
this  nation,  which  prides  itself  on  freedom."  He  declared  that 
there  could  be  no  comparison  between  taking  the  negro  from 
his  native  wilds  and  "  tearing  the  civilized  negro  from  his 
friends,  his  wife,  his  children,  his  parents."  "  I  have,"  he 
said,  "  this  day  heard  a  horrible  fact  from  a  respectable  gen 
tleman  :  A  poor  negro,  by  hard  work  and  by  saving  his  allow 
ance,  laid  by  money  enough  to  purchase  the  freedom  of  his 
wife  and  child.  The  poor  fellow  died,  and  the  next  day  the 
woman  and  child  were  sold.  I  was  mortified  at  being  told  by 
a  foreigner  of  high  rank  :  i  You  call  this  a  land  of  liberty,  and 
every  day  things  are  done  in  it  at  which  rlie  despotisms  of 
Europe  would  be  horror-struck.'  "  The  resolution  was  adopted, 
the  committee  appointed,  and  Mr.  Randolph  was  made  its 
chairman.  He  presented  a  report  stating  the  facts  relating 
to  the  slave-trade  in  the  District ;  but  he  failed  to  report  a 
measure  for  the  suppression,  or  even  the  regulation,  of  a 
traffic  which  he  had  in  such  unmeasured  terms  denounced. 

Judge  Morsell,  too,  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States, 
bore  his  testimony  to  the  enormity  of  the  brutal  commerce.  In 
a  charge  to  the  grand  jury,  he  said  that  "  the  frequency  with 
which  the  streets  of  the  city  have  been  crowded  with  manacled 
captives,  sometimes  on  the  Sabbath,  could  not  fail  to  shock 
the  feelings  of  all  humane  persons."  So  thought  many  citi 
zens  of  the  District;  for  on  the  24th  of  March,  1828,  more 


SLAVEEY  AND  SLAVE-TRADE  IN  THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA.    303 

than  one  thousand  of  its  inhabitants  presented  a  memorial  to 
Congress,  in  which  they  declared  that  "  it  was  not  alone  from 
the  rapacity  of  slave-traders  that  the  colored  race  in  this  Dis 
trict  were  doomed  to  suffer  ;  that  the  laws  sanction  and  direct 
a  procedure  unparalleled  in  glaring  injustice  by  anything 
among  the  governments  of  Christendom."  This,  it  is  to  be 
borne  in  mind,  was  Southern  testimony  ;  and  yet,  notwith 
standing  its  unequivocal  and  damaging  character,  the  nation 
adopted  no  measures  to  abate,  or  even  to  regulate,  the  ter 
rible  trade,  or  in  any  way  to  relieve  it  of  its  fearful  hardships 
and  horrors. 

In  January,  1829,  Mr.  Miner  of  Pennsylvania  introduced  a 
preamble  and  resolutions  concerning  slavery  and  the  slave- 
trade  in  the  District,  setting  forth  the  power  of  Congress,  the 
responsibility  of  the  government,  the  laws,  and  the  practices 
that  had  grown  up  ;  and  he  proposed  that  the  committee  on 
the  District  be  instructed  to  inquire  into  the  slave-trade  in  the 
District,  and  report  such  amendments  to  existing  laws  as 
might  seem  just ;  and  further  to  consider  the  expediency  of 
providing  for  the  gradual  abolition  of  slavery  itself  therein. 
In  support  of  his  proposition,  Mr.  Miner  made  an  earnest  and 
effective  speech.  He  declared  that  the  slave-trade,  as  it  ex 
isted  in  the  capital,  was  "  marked  by  instances  of  injustice  and 
cruelty  scarcely  exceeded  on  the  coast  of  Africa  "  ;  and  that  it 
was  a  "  mistake  to  suppose  it  a  mere  purchase  and  sale  of 
acknowledged  slaves."  He  stated  that  the  extent  and  cruelty 
of  the  traffic,  so  long  ago  as  1802,  had  drawn  from  a  grand 
jury  in  Alexandria  a  presentment,  in  which  grievances  were 
clearly  set  forth  and  legislative  redress  demanded.  He  dis 
closed  many  appalling  acts  of  unblushing  injustice  and  atro 
city.  •  "  We  feel  deeply,"  said  Mr.  Miner,  "  for  the  sufferings 
of  Ireland  ;  we  weep  for  the  miseries  of  the  Greeks  ;  but  we 
suffer,  in  a  race  of  a  different  color,  under  our  own  eye  and 
our  own  jurisdiction,  scenes  of  greater  cruelty  and  injustice 
than  are  acted  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  We  move 
on  the  surface  of  the  stream,  where  the  sunbeams  play,  and 
where  the  glittering  waves  sparkle  with  hope,  joy,  and  pleas 
ure  ;  and  we  pass  on  unconscious  of  the  dark  counter-current 


304       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

that  flows  beneath,  imbittered  by  the  tears  and  impelled  by  the 
sighs  of  the  wretched." 

Mr.  Weems  of  Maryland  opposed  the  adoption  of  the  reso 
lutions.  But  the  resolution  concerning  the  slave-trade  was 
adopted  by  a  vote  of  more  than  two  to  one,  and  even  that 
concerning  gradual  emancipation  received  a  vote  equally 
strong.  And  yet,  notwithstanding  these  decisive  votes,  Mr. 
Stevenson,  a  slaveholding  speaker,  so  constructed  the  commitr 
tee  that  no  further  action  was  taken  upon  the  subject. 

In  1829  the  grand  jury  made  a  communication  to  Congress 
in  which  it  was  said  that  "  the  whole  community  would  be 
gratified  by  the  interference  of  Congress  for  the  suppression 
of  these  receptacles  and  the  exclusion  of  this  disgusting  traffic 
from  the  District."  The  "  Washington  Spectator,"  in  1830, 
indignantly  denounced  those  "  processions,"  so  often  seen  in 
the  streets  of  that  city,  of  human  beings  handcuffed  in  pairs 
or  chained  in  couples,  wending  their  way  to  the  slave-ships 
which  were  to  bear  them  to  the  distant  South  ;  and  yet  this 
abominable  traffic,  denounced  by  judges  and  grand  juries,  citi 
zens  and  presses,  instead  of  being  suppressed  by  Congress, 
was  legalized  two  years  afterward  by  the  corporation  of  the 
city  of  Washington  ;  and  slave-traders  were  licensed,  for  the 
paltry  sum  of  four  hundred  dollars,  to  pollute  the  capital  of 
the  nation  with  their  brutalizing  commerce. 

Congress  in  1820  had  empowered  the  corporation  of  Wash 
ington  to  punish  slaves  by  whipping,  not  exceeding  forty  stripes, 
and  it  was  enacted  that  for  several  trifling  offences  men  and 
women  should  be  thus  whipped  on  their  bare  backs.'  As  late 
as  1836  the  city  authorities  enacted  that  any  free  colored  per 
son  going  at  large  after  ten  o'clock  at  night  should  be  locked 
up  until  morning.  Under  color  of  that  burdensome  and  op 
pressive  enactment,  colored  persons  going  to  or  returning  from 
their  callings  were  often  seized  and  imprisoned.  By  statute, 
free  colored  persons  were  required  to  exhibit  to  the  mayor  satis 
factory  evidence  of  their  title  to  freedom,  and  to  enter  into  bonds 
with  five  securities,  in  the  penalty  of  one  thousand  dollars,  the 
bond  to  be  renewed  every  year ;  and  for  failure  a  fine  of  twenty 
dollars  was  to  be  imposed,  and  they  were  to  be  sent  to  the 


SLAVERY  AND  SLAVE-TRADE  IN  THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA.    305 

workhouse.  It  was  made  the  duty  of  police  constables  to  enter 
religious  meetings  of  persons  of  color  after  the  hour  of  ten 
o'clock  at  night,  and  disperse  Christian  men  and  women,  even 
in  the  act  of  listening  to  the  story  of  salvation,  and  of  offering 
to  their  Creator  the  gratitude  and  prayers  of  contrite  hearts. 

From  1827  to  1850  the  corporation  of  Washington  and 
Georgetown  continued  to  enact  cruel,  degrading,  and  indecent 
statutes,  offending  the  taste,  insulting  the  reason,  and  pervert 
ing  the  moral  sense  of  civilized  man.  As  these  facts  became 
known,  through  the  persistent  proclamation  of  the  earnest  men 
and  women  engaged  in  this  new  reform ;  and  it  was  shown 
that  these  inhuman  and  outrageous  statutes  were  not  the  laws 
of  some  slaveholding  State,  the  municipal  regulations  of  some 
Southern  city,  but  of  the  capital  of  the  nation,  deriving  all  their 
force  from  congressional  legislation,  —  large  numbers  of  North 
ern  citizens  revolted  from  such  voluntary  complicity  with  any 
thing  so  disgraceful,  and  readily  lent  their  influence  and  names 
to  the  effort  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  slave-trade  in 
the  District  of  Columbia.  Hence  the  petitions,  and  the  persists 
ency  with  which  they  were  pushed,  for  that  purpose. 

Still,  though  there  were  these  Northern  exhibitions  of  inter 
est  and  a  growing  indignation,  there  were  constantly  occurring 
at  the  capital,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  illustrations  of  a  very  dif 
ferent  character.  The  gross  infringements  by  the  Slave  Power 
of  the  rights  of  whites  as  well  as  blacks,  the  degrading  and 
intolerable  surveillance  to  which  the  nation  submitted,  and  the 
torpidity  with  which  the  people  regarded  these  flagrant  out 
rages,  find  many  examples  in  the  history  of  those  days.  Of 
them  is  the  case  of  Dr.  Reuben  Crandall,  brother  of  Miss  Cran- 
dall  of  the  Canterbury  School,  who  went  to  Washington  in 
1835  to  lecture  on  one  of  the  natural  sciences.  He  was  a 
Christian  gentleman  of  unblemished  reputation,  of  scientific 
attainments,  and  deeply  interested  in  the  cause  of  education. 
While  engaged  in  his  office,  he  received  some  packages  wrapped 
in  newspapers,  among  which  were  a  few  copies  of  the  u  Eman 
cipator  "  and  "  Antislavery  Reporter!"  As  he  was  unpacking 
his  boxes,  at  the  request  of  a  gentleman  present  he  gave  him 
a  copy  of  one  of  those  publications.  Having  read  it,  the  gen- 


306       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

tleman  left  it  at  a  neighboring  store.  Falling  into  the  hands 
of  others,  it  produced  no  little  excitement.  Indeed,  so  great 
was  the  agitation  created  by  the  unwitting  circulation  of  the 
offending  document,  that  Dr.  Crandall  was  arrested,  thrown 
into  jail,  and  the  fear  was  freely  expressed  by  the  officers  that 
he  was  in  danger  of  a  mob.  He  was  brought  to  trial  before  a 
United  States  court,  ably  defended,  and  acquitted,  but  not  until 
he  had  lain  in  a  common  jail,  charged  with  crime,  for  nearly 
eight  months.  The  enormity  of  this  outrage  appears  greater 
from  tha  indictment  under  which  he  was  tried.  It  contained 
five  counts,  charging  him  with  publishing  malicious  and  wicked 
libels,  with  the  intent  to  excite  sedition  and  insurrection  among 
the  slaves  and  colored  people  of  the  District.  The  evidence 
relied  on  was  incorporated  into  the  indictment  in  the  form  of 
extracts  from  these  antislavery  publications,  found  in  his  pos 
session.  Among  them  was  this  extract  from  a  letter  from 
Arthur  Tappan  to  Mr.  Gurley,  secretary  of  the  American  Col 
onization  Society :  "  We  will  not  insult  your  understanding, 
sir,  with  any  elaborate  attempt  to  prove  to  you  that  the  de 
scendants  of  African  parents,  born  in  this  country,  have  as 
good  a  claim  to  a  residence  in  it  as  the  descendants  of  Eng 
lish,  German,  Danish,  Scotch,  or  Irish  parents  ;  that  no  man's 
right  to  freedom  is  suspended  upon,  or  taken  away  by,  his  de 
sire  to  remain  in  his  native  country."  In  another  count  there 
were  extracts  from  another  article.  Among  them,  this  :  "  Our 
plan  of  emancipation  is  simply  this :  to  promulgate  the  doc 
trine  of  human  rights  in  high  places  and  low  places,  and  in  all 
places  where  there  are  human  beings  ;  to  give  line  upon  line." 
Such  were  the  charges  under  color  of  which  a  Christian  gen 
tleman  of  culture  and  refinement  was  arrested,  confined,  and 
tried  in  the  capital  of  this  Christian  nation.  What  must  have 
been  the  necessities  of  a  system  that  could  not  bear  the  pres 
ence  of  a  few  such  papers  and  pamphlets  ?  What  must  have 
been  the  moral  condition  of  a  city  that  would  perpetrate  such 
an  act  ?  And  what  must  have  been  the  tone  and  temper  of  the 
nation  that  could,  without  remonstrance,  permit  one  of  its 
citizens  to  linger  for  weary  months  in  a  felon's  cell,  for  having 
in  his  possession  a  few  papers  that  expressed  sentiments  that 
he,  and  every  Christian,  should  cherish  ? 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

PETITIONS   AGAINST  SLAVERY  AND   THE   SLAVE-TRADE  IN  THE  DIS 
TRICT   OF   COLUMBIA. — DENIAL   OF   THE   RIGHT   OF   PETITION. 

Presentation  of  Antislavery  Petitions.  —  Debate  thereon.  —  Petitions  laid  on 
the  Table. — Meeting  of  the  XXI Vth  Congress.  —  Presentation  of  Antislavery 
Petitions.  —  Excited  Debate.  —  Mr.  Jarvis's  Resolution.  —  Mr.  Pinckney's 
Resolution.  —  Report  of  the  Committee.  —  Petitions  ordered  to  be  laid  on 
the  Table.  —  Presentation  of  Antislavery  Petitions  in  the  Senate.  —  Mr.  Cal- 
houn's  Motion.  —  Debate  thereon.  —  Mr.  Calhoun's  Motion  to  reject  Petitions 
defeated.  —  Mr.  Buchanan's  Motion  to  reject  the  Prayer  of  Petitioners  adopted. 
—  Long  Debate.  — Servility  of  Northern  Members.  — The  South  victorious. 

ANTISLAVERY  agitation  was  producing  its  legitimate  results. 
The  facts  and  statements,  the  reasonings  and  appeals,  of  the 
advocates  of  immediate  emancipation  excited  the  apprehen 
sions,  if  not  the  convictions,  of  a  portion  of  the  people,  and 
prompted  the  desire  to  be  purged  from  all  complicity  with  such 
outrages^  such  high-handed  crimes  against  the  laws  of  God 
and  the  claims  of  humanity.  Estopped  by  the  compromises 
of  the  Constitution  from  interfering  with  slavery  in  the  States, 
men  felt  all  the  more  anxious  to  rid  themselves  of  all  respon 
sibility  for  its  existence  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  over  which 
it  was  admitted  that  Congress  had  "  sole  jurisdiction,"  and  in 
which  both  slavery  and  the  slave-traffic  existed  in  its  most 
vigorous  and  revolting  forms. 

Memorials  were  largely  circulated,  very  extensively  signed, 
and  presented  to  Congress,  invoking  its  action.  John  Quincy 
Adams,  having  been  elected  a  member  of  the  XXIId  Congress, 
presented,  early  in  the  session,  fifteen  memorials  for  the  abo 
lition  of  slavery  and  the  slave-trade  in  the  District.  He 
expressed,  however,  the  hope  that  the  subject  would  not  be 
discussed  in  the  House,  and  took  occasion  to  say  that  he  could 
not  give  his  support  to  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners.  "  Slav- 


308       RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

ery,"  he  said,  "  in  the  District,  is  of  little  importance  "  ;  al 
though  he  admitted  that  its  existence  there  was  as  much  a 
violation  of  principle  as  its  existence  in  the  States  and  Terri 
tories.  The  petitions  presented  by  Mr.  Adams  were  referred 
to  the  Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia.  Mr.  Doddridge 
of  Virginia,  its  chairman,  promptly  reported  that  it  would  be 
unsafe  to  abolish  slavery  under  existing  circumstances,  and 
wrong  to  do  so  until  Virginia  and  Maryland  moved  in  the 
matter. 

At  the  closing  session  of  the  XXIIId  Congress  John  Dick- 
son  of  New  York  presented  a  memorial  of  the  American 
Antislavery  Society,  and  also  the  petition  of  several  hundred 
ladies  of  that  State,  in  favor  of  the  abolition  of  slavery  and 
the  slave-trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  Early  in  Feb 
ruary,  1835,  he  addressed  the  House  in  an  elaborate  speech  in 
favor  of  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners.  He  contended  that 
neither  the  Old  nor  the  New  Testament,  the  heathen  philoso 
phy  nor  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  recognized  differen 
ces  on  account  of  color  in  the  rights  of  man.  Mr.  Chinn  of 
Virginia,  remarking  that  he  did  not  wish  to  disturb  the  deep 
sympathy  nor  the  tender  mercies  of  the  gentleman  from  New 
York,  or  of  the  fair  memorialists  who  had  made  him  their 
champion,  moved  to  lay  the  whole  subject  on  the  table ;  and 
his  motion  was  agreed  to  by  a  majority  of  forty. 

In  February  Mr.  Phillips  of  Massachusetts  presented  a  peti 
tion  from  three  thousand  six  hundred  ladies  of  his  State.  Mr. 
Dickson  presented  a  memorial  from  the  mayor  of  Rochester 
and  other  citizens,  and  moved  that  it  be  laid  on  the  table  and 
printed.  This  motion  brought  up  Mr.  Johnson  of  Louisiana. 
He  repudiated  the  interference  of .  the  Northern  people  with 
the  rights  and  property  of  the  South.  Whenever  the  North, 
he  declared  with  deep  feeling,  should  procure  legislation  by 
Congress  in  regard  to  this  species  of  property,  "  that  moment 
the  Union  would  be  dissolved."  Millard  Fillmore,  afterward 
President,  disavowed  most  unequivocally,  then  and  forever, 
any  desire  on  his  part  to  interfere  with  the  rights,  or  what  was 
termed  the  property,  of  the  citizens  of  other  States ;  though 
he  was  in  favor  of  printing  the  memorial.  Mr.  Clay  of  Ala- 


PETITIONS  AGAINST   SLAVERY  AND  THE  SLAVE-TRADE.        309 

bama  said  this  memorial  was  calculated  to  excite  "  the  most 
direful  calamities  "  in  that  part  of  the  Union  from  which  he 
came. 

Mr.  Wise  of  Virginia  said  that  the  District  was  common 
ground  ;  that,  if  gentlemen  had  a  right  to  come  upon  that 
ground  with  "  carriages  and  horses,"  he  had  a  right  to  come 
upon  it  with  "  his  slaves,"  and  to  remain  as  long  as  he  pleased. 
"  I  speak,"  he  said,  "  for  all  as  strongly  as  one  man  can  speak 
for  many  —  for  millions  —  that  the  South  will  fight  to  the 
hilt  against  the  abolition  of  slavery,  unless  the  inhabitants 
themselves,  owning  slaves,  shall  petition  for  it.  True  Chris 
tians  and  philanthropists  will  always  find  their  principles  and 
the  cause  of  humanity  best  subserved  by  being  the  friends  of 
slaveholders,  rather  than  of  the  slaves."  The  House,  on  mo 
tion  of  Mr.  Archer  of  Virginia,  by  more  than  seventy  major 
ity,  laid  the  whole  subject  on  the  table.  During  the  session, 
however,  several  similar  petitions  were  presented  by  John 
Quincy  Adams. 

On  the  assembling  of  the  XXIVth  Congress,  Mr.  Fairfield 
of  Maine  presented  to  the  House  petitions  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  District,  remarking,  however,  that  he  did  not 
wish  to  be  considered  as  favoring  the  views  of  the  petitioners. 
These  petitions,  on  motion  of  John  Y.  Mason  of  Virginia, 
afterward  a  member  of  the  Cabinet,  and  minister  to  France, 
were  laid  on  the  table  by  a  strong  vote,  only  thirty-one  voting 
for  their  reception.  A  few  days  afterward  an  antislavery  peti 
tion,  presented  by  Mr.  Briggs  of  Massachusetts,  was  referred 
without  debate  to  the  Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia. 
On  the  same  day  another  was  presented  by  William  Jackson 
of  the  same  State,  for  a  long  time  thereafter  a  most  practical 
and  efficient  worker  in  the  cause  of  emancipation.  Mr. 
Hammond  of  South  Carolina  moved  that  it  be  not  received. 
"  The  large  majority,"  he  said,  "  by  which  similar  petitions 
had  been  rejected,  a  few  days  ago,  has  been  very  gratifying  to 
me  and  to  the  whole  South.  I  had  hoped  that  vote  would 
satisfy  gentlemen  charged  with  such  petitions  of  the  impro 
priety  of  presenting  them  ;  but  as  it  does  not  have  that  effect, 
I  ask  the  House  to  put  a  more  decided  seal  of  reprobation  on 


310       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

such  petitions  by  promptly  rejecting  this."  The  Speaker  stated 
that  he  was  not  aware  that  such  a  motion  had  ever  been  sus 
tained  by  any  former  action  of  the  House.  Mr.  Hammond 
then  moved  that  the  House  reject  the  petition.  On  this  mo 
tion  he  said  he  did  not  wish  to  go  into  a  discussion  of  the 
question  involved,  but  he  wished  to  put  an  end  to  these  peti 
tions.  He  could  not  sit  there  and  submit  to  their  being  brought 
forward  until  the  House  had  become  callous  to  the  consequen 
ces.  In  the  course  of  the  debate  which  sprang  up  on  this 
motion,  Mr.  Sutherland  of  Pennsylvania  reminded  the  House 
that  it  had  already,  on  that  day,  that  very  morning,  referred  a 
memorial  on  this  very  question  to  the  Committee  on  the  District 
of  Columbia.  The  Speaker  admitted  the  fact,  but  added  that 
"  it  was  doubtless  through  inadvertence  ;  that  the  members  of 
the  House  did  not  generally  hear  it."  Mr.  Patton  of  Virginia 
then  moved  to  reconsider  the  vote  by  which  the  memorial  pre 
sented  by  Mr.  Briggs  was  referred. 

On  that  motion  an  excited  debate  arose.  In  this  dis 
cussion  were  developed  the  ideas  and  purposes  of  the  dif 
ferent  parties.  A  very  small  minority  sympathized  with  the 
specific  prayer  of  the  petitioners ;  but  there  were  differences 
of  opinion  in  the  majority  as  to  the  best  method  of  rejecting 
that  prayer.  Mr.  Hunt  of  New  York  said :  "  Gentlemen  on 
all  sides  merely  differ  as  to  the  means  of  effecting  a  general 
and  decisive  end,  an  end  they  are  all  seeking,  —  to  give  quiet 
and  composure  on  this  exciting  question."  Substantially 
agreeing  with  the  South,  but  still  regarding  the  right  of  peti 
tion  "  a  sacred  one,"  he  could  "  never  consent  to  infringe 
upon  it  even  by  implication."  Believing  that  "  the  quiet  of 
the  community  could  not  be  insured  by  suppressing  informa 
tion  and  inquiry,"  he  would  "  refer  this  and  all  similar  memo 
rials  to  the  Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia,  or  to  some 
select  committee,  with  instructions  to  make  a  report  that 
should  put  this  question  forever  at  rest,  —  silence  the  fanatics 
on  the  one  hand,  and  satisfy  our  brethren  of  the  South  on  the 
other." 

Mr.  Thomas  of  Maryland  defended  the  same  course.  Dep 
recating  the  repressive  policy,  he  said :  "  I  am  prepared  to 


PETITIONS  AGAINST  SLAVERY  AND  THE  SLAVE-TRADE.         311 

vote  for  the  reception  of  the  petition,  and  to  declare  distinct 
ly  that  the  prayer  of  these  petitioners  is  unreasonable  and 
ought  not  to  be  granted."  Mr.  Beardsley  of  New  York 
would  receive  the  petition,  but  "  reject  its  prayer  "  ;  and  then, 
he  added,  "  they  will  see  no  firebrands  in  this  House."  Mr. 
Pierce  of  New  Hampshire,  afterward  President,  favored  the 
same  action  for  the  same  end,  though  he  believed  the  public 
sentiment  of  the  North  was  sound,  there  being  "  not  one  in 
five  hundred  who  would  not  have  these  rights  of  our  Southern 
brethren  protected  at  any  and  every  hazard."  The  Southern 
members  were  divided,  some  contending  that  the  above  was 
the  best  method  of  quieting  agitation,  others  that  the  stamp 
of  reprobation  should  be  branded  on  all  antislavery  agitation 
by  rejecting  the  petitions  on  the  very  threshold  of  Congress. 

At  this  point  of  the  discussion  John  Quincy  Adams,  whose 
name  is  so  generally  identified  with  this  great  struggle, 
addressed  the  House.  Disowning  all  sympathy  with  the 
purpose  of  the  petitioners,  he  said  he  would  receive  the  pe 
tition  because  he  deemed  the  right  of  petition  "  sacred,  to 
be  vindicated  at  all  hazards  ;  while  it  presents  the  only  effec 
tive  way  to  get  this  question  out  of  the  view  of  the  nation  and 
this  House."  Alluding  to  his  former  course,  he  said  that  in 
1832  he  presented  similar  petitions,  though  he  gave  notice  to 
the  House  and  to  the  country  that  he  should  not  support  them. 
"  In  1834,"  he  said,  "  similar  petitions  were  presented,  and 
referred  to  a  committee ;  and  from  the  moment  they  were 
referred  they  went  to  the  tomb  of  the  Capulets A  dis 
tinguished  member,  Mr.  Dickson,  made  an  eloquent  speech 
of  two  hours  in  defence.  No  reply  was  made.  Not  a  word 

was  said Other  petitions  were  so  referred,  and  then 

they  slept  the  sleep  of  death."  Mr.  Adams's  course  on  this 
occasion  very  much  astonished  and  aggrieved  the  friends  of  free 
dom,  and  was  sharply  criticised  by  Mr.  Lundy,  Mr.  Garrison, 
and  other  prominent  advocates  of  the  cause.  They  felt  that, 
even  if  he  had  doubted  the  value  of  such  efforts,  he  might 
safely  have  exhibited  more  sympathy  with  the  ultimate  pur 
pose  of  the  petitioners. 

But  there  was  one  member  who,  like  Mr.  Dickson  in  the  pre- 


312       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

ceding  Congress,  distinctly  and  unequivocally  avowed  himself 
in  favor  of  fhe  prayer  of  the  petitioners.  "  The  petitioners," 
said  Mr.  Slade  of  Vermont,  "  wish  the  abolition  of  slavery  in 
the  District  of  Columbia ;  so  do  I.  They  wish  to  abolish  the 
slave-trade  in  the  District;  so  do  I."  He  was  in  favor  of  re 
ferring  all  antislavery  petitions  to  a  committee.  The  House, 
however,  reconsidered  the  vote  to  refer  the  petition  presented 
by  Mr.  Briggs  to  the  Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia, 
and  then  laid  it  on  the  table  by  a  majority  of  seventy-seven. 

Early  in  January,  1836,  Mr.  Jarvis  of  Maine  submitted  a 
resolution  declaring  that  the  subject  of  the  abolition  of  slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia  ought  not  to  be  entertained  by 
Congress ;  and,  if  any  petition  praying  for  it  should  thereafter 
be  presented,  it  ought  to  be  laid  on  the  table  without  being  re 
ferred  or  printed.  Mr.  Jarvis  was  one  of  the  most  zealous  of 
that  class  of  Northern  men  who,  emulous  in  their  subserviency, 
seemed  to  court  the  distinction  of  bowing  low  and  of  making 
great  sacrifices  of  principle,  humanity,  and  personal  honor  to 
propitiate  the  slave  oligarchy,  and  thereby  maintain  the  ascend 
ency  of  the  Democratic  party  and  secure  the  election  of  Mr. 
Van  Buren  to  the  presidency.  And  thus  it  happened  that  the 
cause  of  humanity  and  of  liberty  was  always  imperilled  as 
much  by  Northern  subserviency  as  by  Southern  intolerance 
and  exactions ! 

Mr.  Wise  pronounced  the  resolution  "  entirely  evasive  and 
unsatisfactory  to  the  South."  "  Nothing,"  he  said,  "  can 
satisfy  them  but  a  bold,  direct,  and  manly  vote."  He  moved 
to  amend  the  resolution  of  Mr.  Jarvis  so  as  to  declare  that 
there  was  no  power  of  legislation  granted  to  Congress  to  abol 
ish  slavery  in  the  District,  and  that  any  attempt  to  do  so  would 
be  dangerous  to  the  Union. 

The  representatives  from  South  Carolina,  like  the  senators 
from  that  State,  were  foremost  in  asserting  the  rights  and 
powers  of  slaveholders.  They  vied  with  each  other  in  support 
of  slavery  by  speech  and  vote.  Mr.  Pickens  pronounced  their 
system  of  domestic  servitude  to  be  "  the  same  patriarchal  sys 
tem  that  existed  in  the  first  ages  of  society."  "  Ours,"  he 
said,  "  is  the  ancient  system  of  society  that  existed  amongst 


DENIAL   OF   THE   EIGHT   OF   PETITION.  313 

the  Greeks  and  the  Romans,  and  to  a  certain  extent  in  the  feudal 
serf  system  of  the  Gallic  race."  With  a  shameless  and  auda 
cious  effrontery  he  admitted  and  affirmed  the  "  robber's  right " 
to  be  the  only  foundation  of  their  peculiar  institution,  for  he 
specifically  declared  their  "  system  to  be  a  frank  and  bold  one, 
that  sustained  itself  by  open  and  undisguised  power."  They 
had  nothing,  he  said,  to  conceal  or  disguise,  and  he  boldly 
avowed  to  the  world  that  they  owned  the  blacks  through  both 
"  intellectual  and  physical  force." 

Mr.  Hammond,  too,  expressed  extreme  views,  proclaiming 
that  the  "  doom  of  Ham  has  been  branded  on  the  form  and 
features  of  his  African  descendants,"  and  that  "  the  hand  of 
fate  has  united  his  color  and  his  destiny."  He  made,  too,  the 
impudent  and  preposterous  claim  that  "  domestic  slavery  pro 
duces  the  highest-toned,  the  purest  and  best  organization  of  so 
ciety  that  has  ever  existed  on  the  face  of  the  earth."  Avowing 
that  their  last  thought  would  be  to  give  up  the  institution  un 
der  which  they  were  born  and  bred,  and  which  they  would 
maintain  or  die  in  its  defence,  he  said,  "  I  warn  the  Abolition 
ists,  ignorant  and  infatuated  barbarians  as  they  are,  that,  if 
chance  shall  throw  any  of  them  into  our  hands,  they  may  ex 
pect  a  felon's  death." 

Mr.  Pinckney,  avowing  that  he  was  "  for  the  suppression  of 
abolition  "  by  "  procuring  a  direct  vote  and  a  practical  result 
upon  the  whole  subject  of  the  abolition  of  slavery,"  submitted  a 
resolution  to  the  effect  that  all  antislavery  petitions  and  papers 
which  had  been  or  might  be  submitted  should  be  referred  to 
a  select  committee,  with  instructions  to  report  that  Congress 
had  no  power  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  States,  and  that 
it  ought  not  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  District  of  Colum 
bia,  because  that  would  be  a  violation  of  the  public  faith,  un 
wise,  impolitic,  and  dangerous  to  the  Union.  This  resolution 
was  adopted,  a  select  committee  of  nine  members  was  appointed, 
and  Mr.  Pinckney  was  made  chairman.  In  the  formation  of 
the  committee,  however,  the  usual  courtesy  was  withheld,  and 
not  a  member  known  to  be  in  favor  of  the  prayer  of  the  peti 
tioners  was  placed  upon  it.  On  the  18th  of  May,  the  commit 
tee  made  a  long  and  elaborate  report,  occupying  an  hour  and 

40   ' 


314       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

a  half  in  the  reading.  It  concluded  with  resolutions  declaring 
that  Congress  possessed  no  constitutional  authority  to  interfere 
with  slavery  in  the  States  ;  that  it  ought  not  to  interfere  in  any 
way  with  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia ;  and  that  "  for 
the  purpose  of  arresting  agitation  and  restoring  tranquillity  to 
the  public  mind  "  all  petitions  or  papers  relating  in  any  way 
to  slavery  should  be  laid  on  the  table  without  being  printed  or 
referred.  Upon  these  resolutions  an  earnest,  furious,  and  pro 
tracted  debate  sprang  up,  in  which  hardly  a  word  was  uttered 
for  freedom. 

The  most  extreme  representatives  of  slavery  objected  to  the 
resolutions  because  they  did  not  contain  the  explicit  declara 
tion  that  Congress  possessed  no  constitutional  power  to  abolish 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  So  demoralized  had  the 
nation  become,  that  the  resolutions  requiring  all  antislavery 
petitions  and  papers  to  be  laid  on  the  table  without  being  con 
sidered  or  referred  were  adopted  by  a  vote  'of  one  hundred  and 
seventeen  to  sixty-eight.  Nearly  all  those  who  voted  in  the 
negative  being  Whigs  from  the  free  States  held  with  Mr. 
Adams  that  the  resolution  was  a  direct  violation  of  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States,  the  rules  of  the  House,  and  the 
rights  of  their  constituents. 

While  antislavery  petitions  were  receiving  the  attention  of 
the  House  they  were  also  before  the  Senate.  Early  in  January 
Mr.  Morris  of  Ohio  presented  two  petitions  to  that  body  pray 
ing  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  slave-trade  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia.  Mr.  Calhoun  promptly  objected  to  their  re 
ception  because  "  one  half  of  the  Union  was  deeply  slandered 
in  them  "  ;  because  "  the  subject  was  not  within  the  power  of 
Congress " ;  and  because  "  agitation  on  the  subject  must 
cease."  "  This,"  he  said,  "  is  a  preliminary  abolition  move 
ment.  These  Abolitionists  move  first  on  the  District  of  Colum 
bia,  which  is  the  weakest  point,  in  order  to  operate  afterward 
on  the  States.  I  will  resist  them  as  firmly  in  this  movement 
as  I  would  on  the  direct  question  of  emancipation."  He  ex 
pressed  the  conviction  that/4  nothing  can,  nothing  will  stop 
these  petitioners  but  a  prompt  and  strong  rejection  of  them." 

This  debate,  commenced  by  Mr.  Calhoun  upon  his  motion 


DENIAL   OF   THE   RIGHT    OF   PETITION.  315 

to  reject  antislavery  petitions,  was  continued  for  more  than 
two  months.  Nearly  all  the  Southern  and  many  of  the  North 
ern  senators  participated  in  it.  Southern  senators  of  extreme 
opinions  agreed  with  Mr.  Calhoun  in  sternly  refusing  to  receive 
the  petitions  ;  others  were  in  favor  of  receiving  them,  and  in 
stantly  rejecting  their  prayer.  A  few  believed  it  to  be  the  con 
stitutional  duty  of  the  Senate  to  receive  the  petitions,  refer 
them,  and  have  a  committee  report  upon  them. 

Mr.  Buchanan  presented  the  petition  of  the  Cain  Religious  So 
ciety  of  Friends  of  Pennsylvania.  This  memorial  prayed  Con 
gress  to  enact  such  laws  as  would  secure  the  freedom  of  every 
human  being  residing  within  the  constitutional  jurisdiction  of 
Congress,  and  prohibit  every  species  of  traffic  in  the  persons 
of  men.  Mr.  Buchanan  was  in  favor  of  receiving  the  petition, 
and  of  instantly  rejecting  its  prayer.  The  test  vote  was  taken 
upon  this  memorial.  Ten  senators  voted  for  Mr.  Calhoun' s 
motion  not  to  receive  it,  while  thirty-five  voted  against  it. 
The  question  then  arose  on  Mr.  Buchanan's  motion  to  reject 
the  prayer  of  the  petitioners,  and  it  was  agreed  to,  only  six 
voting  against  it.  Mr.  Calhoun  declined  to  vote  in  favor  of  this 
"  device  to  receive  this  petition  and  immediately  reject  it,  with 
out  consideration  or  reflection."  "  To  my  mind,"  he  said, 
"  the  movement  looks  like  a  trick,  —  a  mere  piece  of  artifice  to 
juggle  and  deceive.  I  intend  no  disrespect  to  the  senator.  I 
doubt  not  his  intention  is  good  and  believe  his  feelings  are 
with  us,  but  I  must  say  the  course  he  has  intimated  is  in  my 
opinion  the  worst  possible  for  the  slaveholding  States.  It 
surrenders  all  to  the  Abolitionists,  and  gives  nothing  in  turn 
that  will  be  of  the  least  advantage  to  us."  Failing  to  secure 
the  rejection  of  the  petition,  his  colleague,  Mr.  Preston,  ac 
cepted  Mr.  Buchanan's  "  device,"  and  invoked  gentlemen  of  all 
parties  to  unite  against  the  "  hot-headed  and  cold-hearted," 
"  ignorant  and  bloodthirsty  fanatics,"  and  to  "  stamp  their  ne 
farious  propositions  with  unqualified  reprobation." 

During  this  long  debate,  in  which  a  majority  of  the  senators 
participated,  harsh  and  violent  utterances  were  made  against 
those  who  had  felt  it  to  be  their  duty  to  free  the  national  cap 
ital  from  the  sin  of  slavery  and  the  crime  of  slave-trading. 


316        RISE   AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

Mr.  Buchanan  denounced  them  as  fanatics.  By  granting  the 
prayer  of  the  petitions  he  said  they  would  erect  a  citadel 
from  which  Abolitionists  and  incendiaries  could  attack  the 
peace  and  safety  of  the  citizens  of  Maryland  and  the  District 
of  Columbia.  "  You  create  a  point,"  he  said,  "  from  which 
trains  of  gunpowder  may  be  securely  laid,  extending  into  the 
surrounding  States,  which  may  at  any  moment  produce  a  fear 
ful  and  destructive  explosion.  By  passing  such  a  law  you  in 
troduce  the  enemy  into  the  very  bosom  of  these  two  States,  and 
afford  him  every  opportunity  to  produce  a  servile  insurrection." 

Robert  J.  Walker  of  Mississippi,  afterward  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  declared  the  Abolitionists  to  be  guided  by  the  blind 
spirit  of  fanaticism.  "  What  is  this  proposition,"  he  inquired, 
"  which  we  are  asked  to  receive  and  consider  ?  It  is  a  proposi 
tion  to  violate  the  Constitution  and  endanger  the  Union.  It 
is  a  proposition  for  rapine,  plunder,  and  spoliation.  It  is 
a  proposition,  not  merely  to  attempt  to  render  the  slaves  of 
this  District  freemen,  but,  in  its  inevitable  results  and  conse 
quences,  to  attempt  to  render  the  freemen  of  this  District 
slaves.  The  mighty  revolution  proposed  by  these  petitioners 
would  make  this  District  a  den  of  thieves  and  assassins,  of  lib 
erated  slaves  and  blacks  already  free.  This  proposition  would 
make  the  District  an  asylum  for  fugitive  slaves  from  the  States, 
the  grand  citadel  of  Abolitionism,  whence  it  would  light  the 
torch  of  the  incendiary  and  whet  the  knife  of  the  assassin. 
Can  we,  ought  we,  will  we  submit  to  this  ?  No,  never  !  " 

Mr.  White  of  Tennessee,  then  a  candidate  for  the  presi 
dency,  was  in  favor  of  the  rejection  of  antislavery  petitions. 
He  referred  to  the  arrest  and  whipping  of  Amos  Dresser  by 
the  citizens  of  Nashville,  and  to  the  threat  of  the  citizens  of 
Kentucky  to  demolish  the  building  and  destroy  the  types  of 
the  "  Philanthropist,"  established  by  James  G.  Birney,  as  evi 
dences  of  the  determined  purpose  of  the  people  of  the  South. 
Mr.  Benton  denounced  the  abolition  societies.  He  said  their 
speeches,  publications,  petitions,  pictures,  went  not  to  the 
understanding  of  the  slaves,  but  to  their  passions,  inspired 
vain  hopes,  and  stimulated  abortive  but  fatal  insurrections.  To 
the  antislavery  societies  of  France,  which  contained  "  the  best 


DENIAL   OF   THE   RIGHT   OF   PETITION.  317 

and  the  basest  of  human  kind,  —  Lafayette  and  the  Abbe 
Gregoire,  those  purest  of  philanthropists,  and  Murat  and  Ana- 
charsis  Cloots,  those  imps  of  hell  in  human  shape,"  —  he  as 
cribed  the  massacre  of  San  Domingo,  which  wrapped  in  flames 
and  drenched  in  blood  that  beautiful  island.  He  referred  to 
the  attempted  insurrection  at  Pointe-Coupee  in  Louisiana,  in 
spired  by  the  uprising  of  the  slaves  in  San  Domingo,  and  to 
the  condemnation  and  execution  of  fifty  of  the  insurgents,  who 
were  hung  at  intervals  along  the  Mississppi  for  a  hundred  and 
fifty  miles,  to  warn  all  who  were  honest  in,  the  three  hundred 
and  fifty  affiliated  antislavery  societies  "  to  at  once  secede 
from  those  associations  that  could  have  no  other  effect  than 
to  revive  such  tragedies  in  the  Southern  States." 

Mr.  Benton  warmly  commended  the  action  of  the  people  of 
the  Northern  States,  with  words  that  carried  with  them,  how 
ever,  the  strongest  condemnation.  "  Their  conduct,"  he  said, 
"  is  above  all  praise,  above  all  thanks,  above  all  gratitude. 
They  have  chased  off  the  foreign  emissaries,  silenced  the  gab 
bling  tongues  of  female  dupes,  and  dispersed  the  assemblies, 
whether  fanatical,  visionary,  or  incendiary,  of  all  that  congre 
gated  to  preach  against  evils  that  afflicted  others,  not  them, 
and  to  propose  remedies  to  aggravate  the  disease  which  they 
pretended  to  cure.  They  have  acted  with  a  noble  spirit. 
They  have  exerted  a  vigor  beyond  all  law.  They  have  obeyed 
the  enactments,  not  of  the  statute-book,  but  of  the  heart ;  and 
while  that  spirit  is  in  the  heart  I  care  nothing  for  laws  written 
in  a  book." 

Northern  senators,  instead  of  words  of  honest  and  indig 
nant  rebuke  which  such  language  should  have  received  from 
their  lips,  joined  in  this  denunciation  of  their  own  free  States, 
and  of  those  men  and  women  of  large  intelligence  and  stainless 
lives,  whose  offence  was  their  love  of  freedom  and  efforts  for 
its  promotion,  as  reckless  fanatics  and  wicked  incendiaries. 
Isaac  Hill  of  New  Hampshire  expressed  his  abhorrence  of 
•'  the  doings  of  weak  or  wicked  men,  who  were  moving  this 
abolition  question  at  the  North."  He  referred  to  the  removal 
of  an  academy  at  Canaan,  New  Hampshire,  which  admitted 
colored  youth,  by  the  citizens  of  that  and  the  neighboring 


318        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

town ;  to  the  escape  of  George  Thompson,  disguised  in  female 
attire  and  under  the  darkness  of  night,  from  a  mob  at  the 
capital  of  the  State,  and  the  burning  of  his  effigy  in  the  pub 
lic  square  amid  discharges  of  artillery,  as  samples  of  the  deep 
feeling  that  pervaded  New  Hampshire.  He  quoted  and  com 
mended,  too,  the  resolutions  and  utterances  of  Democratic 
meetings,  conventions,  and  speakers,  to  show  that  "  the  South 
ought  to  be  fully  satisfied  with  the  present  disposition  of  the 
North." 

But  the  most  significant,  degrading,  not  to  say  disgraceful, 
speech  of  that  debate  was  made  by  Silas  Wright.  Benja 
min  Watkins  Lee  of  Virginia  had  made  perhaps  the  ablest 
speech  in  opposition  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia,  in  which,  referring  to  a  work  on  slavery 
recently  published  by  Dr.  William  Ellery  Channing  of  Boston, 
he  declared  that  it  had  filled  his  mind  with  deep  sorrow,  and 
that  it  had  impaired  his  strong  hope  that  "  the  intelligence 
and  good  sense  of  the  North  would  be  exercised  to  suppress 
this  cause  of  mischief  and  agitation."  Mr.  Wright  followed 
with  the  declaration  that  he  should  have  been  content  to  have 
given  a  silent  vote,  but  he  could  not  do  so  after  reading  the 
extracts  from  the  publication  of  that  distinguished  clergyman. 
He  then  proceeded  to  declare  that  Dr.  Channing,  in  the  ex 
tracts  which  had  been  quoted,  had  shown  himself  "  as  ignorant 
of  the  opinions  and  feelings  of  the  great  mass  of  the  Northern 
citizens  as  of  the  merits  and  virtues  of  the  people  of  the 
South."  Having  taken  issue  with  his  opinions,  he  proceeded 
to  satisfy  Southern  senators  that  the  sentiments  of  the  people 
of  New  York,  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  were  as  sound  as  were 
the  sentiments  of  the  people  of  the  South.  "I  am  satisfied," 
he  said,  "the  general  feeling  of  my  State  is  the  general  feel 
ing  of  the  people  of  the  non-slaveholding  States."  In  proof 
of  this  general  declaration  he  referred  in  detail  to  the  Utica 
mob  of  1835,  which  broke  up  the  antislavery  convention  there 
assembled,  and  destroyed  the  antislavery  press  of  that  city. 
He  referred  boastfully  to  the  facts  that  the  grand  jury  had 
brought  in  no  bills  against  any  of  the  rioters,  and  that  from 
the  committee  of  twenty-five,  chosen  by  the  mob  to  carry  out 


DENIAL   OF   THE   RIGHT   OF  PETITION.  319 

their  purposes,  one  man  had  been  chosen  State  senator,  and 
another  had  been  made  attorney-general  of  the  State.  "  I 
have  mentioned  these  facts,"  said  Mr.  Wright,  "  and  I  might 
mention  many  others  of  a  similar  character,  to  show  that  the 
determined  feeling  of  resistance  to  these  dangerous  and 
wicked  agitators  in  the  North  had  already  reached  a  point 
beyond  law  and  above  law." 

Mr.  Wright  was  one  of  the  most  eminent  and  trusted  lead 
ers  of  the  Democratic  party,  the  personal  and  political  friend 
of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  then  the  Democratic  candidate  for  the 
presidency,  and  this  substantial  indorsement  of  that  violent 
outrage  on  the  freedom  of  speech  and  the  constitutional  rights 
of  American  citizens  was  doubtless  intended  to  reassure  the 
slaveholders  and  to  commend  that  candidate  to  the  confidence 
and  support  of  the  South. 

Amid  these  denunciations,  these  approvals  of  lawless  vio 
lence,  these  humiliating  surrenders  of  the  constitutional  rights 
of  American  citizens,  a  few  senators  calmly  and  firmly  main 
tained  the  right  of  the  people  to  petition,  and  to  have  their 
petitions  received,  referred,  and  considered.  Mr.  Morris  of 
Ohio  vindicated  the  right  of  the  people  to  be  heard  in  their 
petitions,  and  reminded  senators  that  while  the  people  believed 
they  possessed  that  right,  "  no  denial  of  it  by  Congress  will 
prevent  them  from  exercising  it."  Mr.  Prentiss  of  Vermont 
regretted  the  harsh  expressions  which  had  been  applied  to  the 
petitioners,  and  reminded  senators  that  they  had  fallen  into 
the  common  error  of  supposing  that  all  who  differed  from 
them  did  so  from  unworthy  motives,  and  not  from  honest  con 
victions.  "The  petitioners,"  he  said,  "have  been  denounced 
as  incendiaries ;  they  have  been  charged  with  criminal,  with 
treasonable  intentions",  —  with  intentions  to  excite  a  servile  war 
and  subject  the  whole  Southern  country  to  pillage,  havoc,  and 
devastation.  With  some  of  the  persons  who  have  signed  peti 
tions  on  this  subject  I  am  well  acquainted.  I  know  them  to 
be  intelligent,  patriotic,  highly  respectable.  Their  proposi 
tions  may  be  strongly  stated  ;  their  argument  may  be  bold ; 
their  illustrations  may  not  be  suited  to  the  taste  or  the  judg 
ment  of  those  whose  opinions  they  oppose  ;  but  that  all,  the 


320       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

whole  combined,  proceeds  from  a  consciousness  on  their  part 
of  doing  and  saying  what  is  right,  I  neither  have  nor  can 
entertain  any  doubt."  He  closed  his  calm,  logical,  and  states 
manlike  speech  with  the  expression  of  the  opinion  that  slavery 
would  cease  to  exist  in  the  District.  * 

Mr.  Webster,  too,  was  in  favor  of  receiving  these  petitions 
and  referring  them  to  the  proper  committees.  "  To  reject," 
he  said,  "  the  prayer  of  a  petition  at  once  without  reference  or 
consideration  is  not  respectful "  to  those  whose  right  it  is  to 
petition  for  the  redress  of  grievances.  Mr.  Morris,  then  a 
Democratic  member  from  Ohio,  who  had  bravely  vindicated 
the  right  of  petition,  was  not  present  or  did  not  vote.  Web 
ster  and  Davis  of  Massachusetts,  Prentiss  and  Swift  of  Ver 
mont,  Knight  of  Rhode  Island,  and  Hendricks  of  Indiana,  all 
Northern  Whigs,  boldly  and  manfully  maintained  the  right 
of  petition  by  voting  against  that  discreditable  device. 


CHAPTER    XXIY. 

NORTHERN  LEGISLATION  DEMANDED. 

Spirit  of  the  Abolitionists.  —  Mr.  Sullivan's  Pamphlet.  —  Dr.  Leonard  "Woods.  — 
Mr.  Hazard's  Eeport.  —  Charleston  Post-office  rifled.  —  Public  Meeting.  — 
Conduct  of  the  New  York  Postmaster. — Amos  Kendall's  Letter.  —  His  Course. 
—  Report  of  Mr.  Calhoun.  —  Governor  McDuffie's  Message.  —  Resolutions  of 
South  Carolina  Legislature.  —  Resolutions  of  Southern  States.  —  Governor 
Ritner's  Message.  —  Governor  Gayle's  Demand  for  Mr.  Williams.  —  Message 
of  Governor  Marcy.  —  Governor  Dorr.  —  Report  of  Mr.  Stevens.  —  Failure  to 
legislate.  —  Edward  Everett.  —  His  Readiness  to  shoulder  a  Musket  to  put 
down  Insurrection.  —  Mr.  Cambreling  rebukes  him.  —  His  Response  to  South 
ern  Demands.  —  His  Message.  —  Referred  to  a  Select  Committee.  —  Resolution 
of  Southern  States.  —  Action  of  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society.  —  Hearing 
before  the  Committee.  — Speeches  of  Mr.  May,  Mr.  Loring,  Mr.  Garrison, 
Mr.  Goodell.  —  Mr.  Lunt  interrupts  Mr.  GoodeU.  —  Dr.  Follen  insulted  by 
Mr.  Lunt.  —  Dr.  Follen  sustained  by  Mr.  May.  —  Memorial  to  the  Legisla 
ture.  —  Another  Hearing.  —  Speakers  interrupted  by  Mr.  Lunt.  —  Excitement 
of  the  Audience.  —  Mr.  Lunt's  Report.  — Resolutions  laid  on  the  Table. 

DEEDS  of  violence  and  the  reign  of  riot  did  not,  however, 
repress  agitation  or  crush  out  Abolitionists.  The  declaration 
of  Charles  King,  son  of  the  illustrious  Rufus  King,  and  editor 
of  the  "  New  York  American,"  that  "  fire  could  not  burn  the 
convictions  of  these  men  out  of  them,"  had  been  clearly 
demonstrated.  Their  spirits  rose  as  the  storm  of  popular 
violence  beat  more  fiercely  on  their  heads.  In  the  face  of 
their  maddened  countrymen  they  exhibited  the  unconquerable 
spirit  of  devotion,  courage,  and  martyrdom. 

Other  agencies  were,  therefore,  invoked.  Legislation  was 
demanded  of  the  national  and  State  governments.  Grand 
juries  made  presentments,  and  the  judicial  tribunals  were 
invoked  to  suppress  and  to  punish.  In  the  summer  of  1835, 
when  mob  violence  was  manifesting  itself  in  every  form,  and 
the  laws  were  defied  even  by  gentlemen  of  property  and  stand, 

41 


322        RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

ing,  a  pamphlet,  written  by  William  Sullivan,  was  published 
in  Boston,  in  which  the  hope  was  expressed  that  "  Massachu 
setts  will  enact  laws  declaring  the  printing,  publishing,  and 
circulating  pamphlets  on  slavery,  and  also  the  holding  meet 
ings  to  discuss  slavery  and  abolition,  to  be  public,  indictable 
offences,  and  to  provide  for  the  punishment  thereof  in  such  a 
manner  as  will  more  effectually  prevent  such  offences."  This 
startling  proposition,  put  forth  by  a  learned  lawyer  and  gen 
tleman  of  high  social  position,  received  the  censure  of  neither 
the  press,  the  pulpit,  nor  the  people. 

The  "  Literary  and  Theological  Review,"  published  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  and  edited  by  Leonard  Woods,  Jr.,  after 
ward  president  of  Bowdoin  College,  affirmed  that  the  Aboli 
tionists  were  "  justly  liable  to  the  highest  civil  penalties  and 
ecclesiastical  censures."  Though  the  "  Review"  was  largely 
supported  by  the  Congregational  and  Presbyterian  clergymen 
of  the  New  England  and  Middle  States,  even  this  extreme 
position  met  with  little  opposition  or  dissent.  While  many, 
however,  of  those  who  then  approved  and  applauded  this  sen 
timent  changed  their  views,  and  adopted  and  defended  more 
liberal  opinions,  this  editor  continued,  even  amid  the  subse 
quent  developments  of  rebellion  and  civil  war,  to  exhibit  a 
spirit  which  justly  subjected  him  to  the  suspicion  of  disloyalty 
to  his  government. 

At  a  public  meeting  at  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  Mr.  Hazard 
of  that  city  presented  resolutions  in  favor  of  legislation  against 
the  Abolitionists.  At  the  October  session  of  the  legislature  a 
committee  was  appointed,  of  which  he  was  made  chairman, 
for  the  purpose  of  reporting  a  bill  against  abolitionism,  and 
of  subjecting  Abolitionists  to  the  infliction  of  legal  penalties. 
Politicians  and  public  presses,  men  learned  in  law  and  divin 
ity,  gave  utterance  to  like  sentiments,  and  manifested  their 
readiness  to  repress  by  laws  what  violence -had  failed  to  crush. 
Was  it  then  a  matter  of  surprise  that  Southern  men  should 
demand  what  so  many  Northern  men  seemed  forward  to 
proffer  ? 

On  the  29th  of  July,  1835,  the  post-office  at  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  was  forced  open  by  a  mob,  the  mails  rifled, 


NORTHERN  LEGISLATION  DEMANDED.  323 

and  antislavery  publications  destroyed.  A  few  days  afterward 
a  public  meeting  was  held  to  complete  the  work  already  be 
gun,  by  ferreting  out  and  punishing  any  Abolitionists  that 
might  be  found,  or  any  persons  in  sympathy  with  them.  At 
that  meeting  the  clergy,  of  all  denominations,  attended  in  a 
body  to  give  their  sanction  to  its  proceedings.  Their  services 
were  gratefully  acknowledged  by  the  damaging  compliment  of 
a  resolution  adopted  by  that  lawless  assemblage.  The  post 
master  took  the  responsibility  of  arresting  the  circulation  of 
antislavery  publications  until  he  should  receive  special  instruc 
tions  from  Washington.  Other  postmasters  in  the  South  im 
mediately  followed  his  example.  The  postmaster  in  New  York 
proposed  to  the  American  Antislavery  Society  that  it  should 
voluntarily  desist  from  attempting  to  send  its  publications  by 
mail.  It,  however,  promptly  and  peremptorily  refused  to 
yield  its  legal  rights. 

Amos  Kendall  was  then  Postmaster-General.  A  native  of 
Massachusetts,  he  had  taken  up  his  residence  in  Kentucky, 
became  connected  with  the  press,  and  was  distinguished  for 
his  zeal  and  ability  in  support  of  General  Jackson,  who  had 
placed  him  at  the  head  of  the  Post-Office  Department.  In  his 
reply  of  the  5th  of  August  to  the  postmaster  of  Charleston, 
he  admitted  that  the  Postmaster-General  had  "  no  legal  author 
ity  to  exclude  newspapers  from  the  mail,  nor  to  prohibit  their 
carriage  or  delivery  on  account  of  their  character  or  tendency, 
real  or  supposed."  He  expressed  himself,  however,  unpre 
pared  to  direct  the  postmaster  to  deliver  antislavery  papers. 
"  By  no  act  or  direction  of  mine,  official  or  private,"  said  this 
high  official,  sworn  to  obey  the  laws,  "  could  I  be  induced, 
knowingly,  to  aid  in  giving  circulation  to -papers  of  this  de 
scription,  directly  or  indirectly.  We  owe  an  obligation  to  the 
laws,  but  a  higher  one  to  the  communities  in  which  we  live  ; 
and,  if  the  former  be  permitted  to  destroy  the  latter,  it  is 
patriotism  to  disregard  them.  Entertaining  these  views,  I 
cannot  sanction  and  will  not  condemn  the  step  you  have 
taken."  To  Samuel  L.  Gouveneur,  the  postmaster  of  New 
York,  who  had  consulted  him  in  regard  to  suppressing  anti- 
slavery  papers  through  the  mails,  he  replied,  approving  what 


324       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN   AMERICA. 

he  had  done,  but  declaring  that  he  was  "  deterred  from-  giving 
an  order  to  exclude  the  whole  series  of  antislavery  publications 
from  the  Southern  mails  only  by  a  want  of  legal  power."  This 
position  of  that  high  functionary,  so  indefensible  and  revolu 
tionary,  encouraged  his  subordinates  to  set  at  defiance  the 
laws  of  their  country,  violate  the  sanctity  of  the  mails,  and 
subject  their  contents  to  the  surveillance  of  every  petty  post 
master,  whatever  his  motives  or  character  might  be. 

President  Jackson,  in  his  annual  message  of  that  year,  sug 
gested  to  Congress  "  the  propriety  of  passing  such  a  law  as 
will  prohibit,  under  severe  penalties,  the  circulation  in  the 
Southern  States,  through  the  mail,  of  incendiary  publications 
intended  to  instigate  the  slaves  to  insurrection."  This  propo 
sition  was  referred  to  a  select  committee,  of  which  John  C. 
Calhoun  was  chairman.  On  the  4th  of  February,  1836,  this 
committee  made  an  elaborate  report,  accompanied  by  a  bill.  In 
this  report  it  was  maintained  that  it  belonged  "  to  the  States, 
and  not  to  Congress,  to  determine  what  is  and  what  is  not  cal 
culated  to  disturb  their  security ";  that,  if  Congress  might 
decide  that  year  what  incendiary  publications  were,  they  might 
decide  next  year  what  they  were  not,  and  thus  enforce  the  cir 
culation  of  abolition  documents.  This  report  maintained  that 
when  the  States  had  determined  what  incendiary  publications 
were,  Congress  must  enact  a  law  prohibiting  their  transmis 
sion  through  the  mail.  By  the  doctrines  of  that  report,  when 
any  State  pronounced  certain  publications  to  be  "  incendiary  " 
in  their  character,  Congress  and  State  legislatures  were  bound 
to  act  in  conformity  with  its  decisions.  By  the  provisions  of 
the  act  reported  it  was  declared  that  it  should  "  not  be  lawful 
for  any  deputy  postmaster  in  any  State,  Territory,  or  District, 
knowingly  to  deliver  to  any  person  whatsoever  any  pamphlet, 
newspaper,  handbill,  or  other  printed  paper  or  pictorial  repre 
sentation  touching  the  subject  of  slavery,  when  by  the  laws 
of  such  State,  Territory,  or  District  such  circulation  is  pro 
hibited." 

In  his  message  to  the  legislature  of  South  Carolina,  in  De 
cember,  1835,  Governor  McDuffie  elaborately  defended  slavery 
as  "  the  corner-stone  of  the  republican  edifice  "  ;  declared  the 


NORTHERN  LEGISLATION  DEMANDED.  325 

laboring  population,  "  bleached  or  unbleached,  a  dangerous 
element  in  the  body  politic  "  ;  and  affirmed  of  the  Abolition 
ists  and  their  measures  that  "  the  laws  of  any  community 
should  punish  this  species  of  interference  with  death  without 
benefit  of  clergy."  The  legislature,  accustomed  to  lead  wher 
ever  slavery  had  a  service  to  be  performed,  immediately  adopted 
a  resolution  in  accord  with  his  suggestion.  Presuming  on  what 
it  chose  to  regard  the  justice  and  friendship  of  the  non-slavehold- 
ing  States  to  carry  out  such  measures,  it  called  upon  them  to 
"  effectually  suppress,"  by  legislation,  all  abolition  societies 
within  their  respective  limits. 

During  the  same  month  North  Carolina  called  upon  its  sister 
States  to  pass  penal  laws  against  printing  anything  that  might 
have  a  tendency  to  make '  their  slaves  discontented.  During 
the  next  month  Alabama  called  upon  them  to  "  enact  such 
penal  laws  as  will  finally  put  an  end  to  the  malignant  deeds 
of  the  Abolitionists."  Virginia  earnestly  requested  the  non- 
slaveholding  States  promptly  to  "  adopt  penal  enactments,  or 
such  other  measures  as  will  effectually  suppress  all  associations 
within  their  limits  purporting  to  be  or  having  the  character  of 
abolition  societies."  Georgia,  too,  resolved  that  it  was  incum 
bent  on  the  people  of  the  North  "  to  crush  the  traitorous  de 
signs  of  the  Abolitionists." 

By  such  resolutions  these  Southern  States  demanded,  in 
effect,  that  the  non-slaveholding  States  should  suppress  aboli 
tion  societies,  and  make  it  penal  to  print,  publish,  or  distribute 
antislavery  newspapers,  pamphlets,  or  tracts.  They  pro 
claimed,  too,  that  they  should  consider  the  abolition  of  slav 
ery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  or  any  interference  with  slavery 
by  any  State  or  the  general  government,  to  be  at  once  and  un 
der  every  possible  circumstance  resisted.  Their  demands  were 
officially  communicated  to  the  governors  of  the  several  States, 
and  by  them  brought  to  the  notice  of  their  respective  legisla 
tures.  In  communicating  these  demands  Governor  Ritner  of 
Pennsylvania  was  the  only  one  of  the  Northern  chief-magis 
trates  to  resist  these  arrogant  demands,  and  to  defend  the 
sacred  rights  of  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press,  thus  men 
aced  and  endangered. 


326       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

Governor  Gayle  of  Alabama  had  already  gone  so  far  as  to 
demand  of  the  governor  of  New  York  that  Mr.  Williams,  the 
publishing  agent  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society,  should 
be  surrendered  to  him,  to  be  tried  by  the  laws  of  Alabama  on 
an  indictment  found  against  him  by  its  grand  jury,  for  publish 
ing  in  the  "  Emancipator,"  in  the  city  of  New  York,  the  sen 
timent  that  "  God  commands  and  all  nature  cries  out  that  man 
should  not  be  held  as  property.  The  system  of  making  men 
property  has  plunged  two  and  a  quarter  millions  of  our  fellow- 
countrymen  into  the  deepest  physical  and  moral  degradation, 
and  they  are  every  moment  sinking  deeper."  Mr.  Williams 
had  never  been  in  the  State  of  Alabama,  and  of  course  had 
never  fled  from  it ;  and  this  was  distinctly  admitted  by  the 
governor  when  he  made  the  -demand  for  his  surrender.  But 
this  audacious  demand  was  not  complied  with. 

There  were  those  who  believed  that  the  Abolitionists  might 
be  punished  under  existing  laws ;  while  others  were  ready  to 
enact  such  laws  as  the  slave-masters  required.  The  governor 
and  legislature  of  New  York  were  Democratic.  They  desired 
the  election  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  to  the  presidency,  and  hence 
were  ready  to  make  almost  any  concessions  to  their  Southern 
allies  and  friends.  The  legislature  met  early  in  January,  1836. 
Governor  Marcy,  in  his  message,  affirmed  that  the  States  would 
not  possess  all  the  necessary  means  for  preserving  their  ex 
ternal  relations  of  peace  among  themselves  "  without  the  power 
to  pass  such  laws  "  as  were  required  by  the  Southern  States. 
He  relied,  however,  for  the  present,  on  the  influence  of  public 
opinion  which,  he  said,  had  already  been  manifested  with  unex 
ampled  energy  and  unanimity  in  striking  exhibitions  of  popu 
lar  reprobation,  elicited  by  the  just  fear  of  "  the  fatal  issues  in 
which  the  uncurbed  efforts  of  the  Abolitionists  may  ultimately 
end."  The  committee  to  whom  the  subject  was  referred  made 
a  report,  near  the  close  of  the  session,  in  response  to  this  dec 
laration  of  the  governor,  in  which  they  pledged  the  faith  of 
the  State  to  enact  such  laws  whenever  they  should  be  deemed 
necessary.  Early  in  February  Mr.  Hazard,  chairman  of  the 
committee,  appointed  at  the  October  session  of  the  legislature 
of  Rhode  Island,  reported  a  bill  embodying  provisions  he  had 


NORTHERN  LEGISLATION  DEMANDED.  327 

suggested  even  before  the  demands  of  the  Southern  legislatures 
were  made.  This  bill,  however,  was  defeated,  mainly  by  the 
efforts  of  George  Curtis  and  Thomas  W.  Dorr,  then  represen 
tatives  of  the  city  of  Providence. 

Governor  Ritner  standing  alone,  as  already  stated,  in  de 
fence  of  free  speech  and  a  free  press,  commented  in  language 
of  deserved  severity  upon  this  cowardly  timidity  and  disgrace 
ful  subserviency  of  Northern  men,  characterizing  it  as  "  the 
base  bowing  of  the  knee  to  the  dark  spirit  of  slavery."  "  While 
we  admit  and  scrupulously  respect,"  he  said,  "  the  constitu 
tional  rights  of  other  States  on  this  momentous  subject,  let  us 
not,  by  either  fear  or  interest,  be  driven  from  aught  of  that 
spirit  of  independence  and  veneration  which  has  ever  character 
ized  our  beloved  Commonwealth.  Above  all,  let  us  never  yield 
up  the  right  of  free  discussion  of  any  evil  which  may  arise  in 
the  land  or  any  part  of  it."  These  noble  utterances  of  the 
honest  and  worthy  governor  of  Pennsylvania  were  penned  by 
Thomas  K.  Burrows,  then  secretary  of  State,  now  president  of 
an  agricultural  college  in  Centre  County.  In  those  days  of 
Northern  sycophancy  the  manly  words  honored  alike  the  heart 
and  head  of  him  who  penned  them,  as  well  as  of  him  who  put 
upon  them  the  seal  of  his  official  sanction.  In  a  congratula 
tory  letter,  Thaddeus  Stevens  compared  this  brave  message  to 
the  "  shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land." 

Mr.  Stevens  was  chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee  of  the 
House  of  Representatives.  To  that  committee  were  referred 
the  resolutions  of  the  Southern  legislatures.  Its  report,  un 
like  that  of  the  legislative  committee  of  Massachusetts,  was 
brave,  manly,  and  independent.  It  unequivocally  denied  the 
right  of  the  slaveholding  States  to  claim  legislation  against 
free  discussion.  "  Could  any  other  State,"  it  affirmed,  "  main 
tain  the  right  to  claim  from  us  such  legislation,  we  and  our 
citizens  would  be  reduced  to  a  vassalage  but  little  less  degrad 
ing  than  that  of  the  slaves  whose  condition  we  assert  the  right 
to  discuss."  It  proclaimed  as  a  fundamental  truth,  never  to 
be  surrendered,  that  "  every  citizen  of  the  non-slaveholding 
States  has  a  right  to  think  and  freely  to  publish  his  thoughts 
on  any  subject  of  national  and  State  policy." 


328       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

This  report  took  issue,  too,  with  the  Southern  legislatures 
touching  the  power  of  Congress  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia  and  the  Territories.  The  report  closed  with 
two  resolutions,  affirming  that  the  slaveholding  States  alone 
had  the  right  to  legislate  on  the  subject  of  slavery  within  their 
own  limits ;  while  Congress  had  the  constitutional  power  to 
abolish  slavery  and  the  slave-trade  within  the  District  of  Co 
lumbia,  a  power  it  was  expedient  for  it  to  employ. 

This  attempt  of  Southern  legislatures  and  compliant  poli 
ticians  to  secure  hostile  legislation  against  the  Abolitionists 
signally  failed.  Not  one  Northern  State  complied  with  their 
unreasonable  and  unconstitutional  demands.  Though  execu 
tive  officials  counselled  submission,  the  more  popular  branches 
of  the  State  governments  hesitated,  and  refused  to  yield.  An- 
tislavery  men,  who  had  been  filled  with  well-grounded  appre 
hension,  took  courage  from  these  defeats.  They  began  to 
realize  that  their  endurance,  courage,  and  constancy  were  im 
pressing  themselves  upon  the  public  mind.  "  In  the  dark  and 
troubled  night  "  through  which  they  were  passing  they  saw,  or 
thought  they  saw,  in  these  facts, "  a  star  of  hope  "  through  the 
rifted  clouds,  as  if  a  less  stormy  and  sanguinary  future  was 
opening  before  them. 

The  zeal,  activity,  and  uncompromising  character  of  the 
Abolitionists  of  Massachusetts  had  brought  upon  them  in  an 
especial  manner  the  hostility  of  the  slave-masters  and  the 
condemnation  of  Northern  men  with  Southern  principles. 
The  bold,  outspoken,  and  unsparing  criticisms  of  the  "  Liber 
ator  "  upon  slavery  in  all  its  forms,  and  upon  all  who  coun 
tenanced  that  iniquity,  incensed  its  friends  and  encouraged  its 
enemies.  At  that  time,  perhaps,  the  most  thorough  and  radi 
cal  antislavery  men  in  the  country  were  found  in  Massachu 
setts,  and  nowhere  was  hostility  to  them  more  distinctly  pro 
claimed. 

Edward  Everett  was  then  governor  of  Massachusetts. 
Trained  for  the  pulpit,  he  early  yielded  to  the  claims  of  litera 
ture  arid  public  affairs.  He  was  a  ripe  and  accurate  scholar,  a 
gentleman  of  large  attainments,  a  brilliant  and  polished  rheto 
rician,  a  graceful  and  impressive  orator.  He  entered  Con- 


NOKTHEKN   LEGISLATION  DEMANDED.  329 

gress  the  earnest  supporter  of  the  administration  of  John 
Quincy  Adams.  On  the  9th  of  March,  1826,  in  response  to 
an  imputation  upon  Northern  representatives  that  they  desired 
to  change  the  basis  of  representation,  and  would  refuse  to  sup 
press  a  servile  rebellion,  he  took  occasion  to  make  an  elaborate 
speech,  avowing  his  opposition  to  any  such  purpose,  and  his 
readiness  to  render  any  aid  the  latter  might  require.  "  Sir," 
he  said,  "  I  am  no  soldier.  My  habits  and  education  are  very 
unmilitary  ;  but  there  is  no  cause  in  which  I  would  sooner 
buckle  a  knapsack  on  my  back  and  put  a  musket  on  my  shoul 
der  than  that  of  putting  down  a  servile  insurrection  at  the 
South."  He  rendered  more  sad  and  significant  the  tenor  of 
such  a  pledge  by  his  defence  of  slavery  in  the  same  speech. 
"  The  great  relation  of  servitude,"  he  said,  "  in  some  form  or 
other,  with  greater  or  less  departure  from  the  theoretic  equal 
ity  of  men,  is  inseparable  from  our  nature.  Domestic  slavery 
is  not,  in  my  judgment,  to  be  set  down  as  an  immoral  and  irre 
ligious  relation.  It  is  a  condition  of  life  as  well  as  any  other 
to  be  justified  by  morality,  religion,  and  international  law." 

These  sentiments  created  no  little  surprise.  Churchill  C. 
Cambreling,  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  then  a  leading  mem 
ber  of  the  House  from  New  York,  sharply  and  eloquently 
rebuked  these  gratuitous  admissions,  defences,  and  pledges. 
If  he  had  learned,  he  said,  in  the  University  of  Gottingen, 
such  sentiments,  instead  of  returning  to  his  native  land,  he 
would  have  journeyed  eastward,  would  have  "  followed  the 
course  of  the  dark-rolling  Danube,"  "  crossed  the  Euxine," 
and  "laid  his  head  upon  the  footstool  of  the  Sultan,  and 
besought  him  to  place  his  feet  upon  the  neck  of  the  recreant 
citizen  of  a  recreant  republic." 

Entering  the  gubernatorial  chair  with  such  sentiments  and 
antecedents,  it  is  not  strange  that  Mr.  Everett's  response  to 
these  Southern  demands  should  have  been  humiliating  in  the 
extreme.  Though  mortified  and  indignant,  antislavery  men 
were  not,  therefore,  surprised  to  read  in  his  annual  message 
of  that  year  these  admissions  and  recommendations :  "  What 
ever  by  direct  and  necessary  operation  is  calculated  to  excite 
an  insurrection  among  the  slaves  has  been  held  by  highly 

42 


330        RISE   AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

respectable  legal  authority  an  offence  against  the  peace  of  the 
commonwealth,  which  may  be  prosecuted  as  a  misdemeanor  at 
common  law."  And  again  :  "  The  patriotism  of  all  classes 
must  be  invoked  to  abstain  from  a  discussion  which,  by  exas 
perating  the  master,  can  have  no  other  effect  than  to  render 
more  oppressive  the  condition  of  the  slave  ;  and  which,  if  not 
abandoned,  there  is  great  reason  to  fear,  will  prove  the  rock 
on  which  the  Union  will  split." 

This  portion  of  the  message  was  referred  to  a  joint  com 
mittee  of  five,  of  which  George  Lunt,  then  a  senator  from 
the  county  of  Essex  and  a  resident  of  Newburyport,  was  chair 
man.  To  the  same  committee  were  also  referred  the  com 
munications  which  had  been  received  from  the  legislatures  of 
the  several  slaveholding  States,  requesting  the  enactment  of 
laws  making  it  penal  for  citizens  of  non-slaveholding  States  to 
speak  or  publish  sentiments  such  as  had  been  uttered  in  anti- 
slavery  meetings  and  printed  in  antislavery  tracts  and  news 
papers.  It  was  a  dark  and  trying  hour  for  the  friends  of  the 
slave.  Everywhere  spoken  against,  bitterly  assailed  by  the 
public  press,  and  subjected  to  mob  violence,  they  had  reason 
to  be  alarmed  at  these  demands  for  penal  legislation.  The 
board  of  managers  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society 
took  immediate  action.  By  their  order,  Rev.  Samuel  J. 
May,  'the  corresponding  secretary,  addressed  a  letter  to  the 
legislative  committee,  asking  permission  to  appear  before  it, 
and  give  reasons  why  there  should  be  no  action  against  the 
freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press,  or  condemnatory  of  the 
Abolitionists.  The  request  was  granted,  and  on  the  4th  of 
March  a  hearing  was  had  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives. 

Mr.  Lucas,  a  member  of  the  committee,  thought  the  gentle 
men  who  had  sought  a  hearing  were  premature  in  their  action  ; 
that  they  had  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  committee  would 
do  anything  prejudicial  to  them;  and  that  they  should  bave 
waited  until  the  committee  had  reported.  To  this  objection 
Mr.  May  replied  that  he  and  his  associates  belonged  to  that 
class  of  persons  censured  by  the  governor  in  his  message,  and 
referred  to  in  the  communications  from  the  Southern  States. 


NORTHERN  LEGISLATION  DEMANDED.  331 

To  avert  any  action  of  the  legislature  that  might  infringe  upon 
the  liberty  of  speech  or  of  the  press,  or  any  legislative  censures 
upon  the  Abolitionists,  they  had  sought  an  interview  with  the 
committee.  Mr.  Lucas  then  remarked  that  it  was  very  im 
proper  for  the  gentlemen  of  the  Antislavery  Society  to  proceed 
upon  the  supposition  that  the  legislature  would  enact  any  laws 
abridging  the  liberty  of  speech  and  of  the  press,  which  it  could 
not  constitutionally  do.  To  these  remarks  Mr.  May  replied 
that  the  Abolitionists  did  not  fear  the  enactment  of  any  penal 
laws  ;  but  they  were  apprehensive  that  condemnatory  resolu 
tions  might  be  adopted,  which  they  would  deprecate  even 
more  than  penal  laws.  Mr.  Moseley,  member  of  the  commit 
tee  from  Newburyport,  expressed  the  hope  that  nothing  would 
preclude  the  committee  from  giving  a  hearing,  as  he  wished 
for  information,  —  desired  to  know  what  Abolitionism  was,  to 
what  it  was  tending,  and  how  far  it  went.  Mr.  Lucas  having 
withdrawn  his  objection,  Mr.  May  then  proceeded  to  sketch 
the  origin  and  history  of  the  abolition  movements  in  the 
United  States.  The  antislavery  societies,  he  said,  consisted 
of  a  band  of  men  associated  together  to  overthrow  the  system 
of  American  slavery  by  intellectual  and  moral  means.  This 
position  of  the  Abolitionists  was  thus  presented  to  the  commit 
tee  with  great  accuracy  and  clearness  by  one  who  had  been 
among  the  very  earliest  to  accept  the  doctrine  of  immediate 
emancipation,  and  who,  having  been  thus  identified  with  the 
antislavery  cause,  was  familiar  with  its  origin,  principles,  and 
history. 

Ellis  Gray  Loring  followed  in  a  well-defined,  clear,  and  for 
cible  argument.  He  denied  the  right  of  the  legislature  to 
enact  penal  laws,  or  pass  votes  of  censure  upon  the  doings  of 
abolition  societies.  He  strenuously  denied,  too,  that  the 
Abolitionists  had  done  anything  inconsistent  with  the  law  of 
nations  or  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  He  also 
claimed  the  moral  right  to  labor  for  the  extirpation  of  slavery, 
or  any  other  evil.  He  closed  his  speech  with  these  words  : 
"  A  great  principle  is  involved  in  the  decision  of  the  legis 
lature.  I  esteem  as  nothing,  in  comparison,  our  feelings  or 
wishes  as  individuals.  Personal  interests  sink  into  insignifi- 


332        EISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

cance  here.  Sacrifice  us,  if  you  will ;  but  do  not  wound  liberty 
through  us.  Care  nothing  for  men  ;  but  let  the  oppressor  and 
his  apologist,  whether  at  the  North  or  the  South,  beware  of  the 
certain  defeat  which  attends  him  who  is  found  fighting  against 
God." 

The  committee  was  then  briefly  addressed  by  Mr.  Garrison. 
He  maintained  that  the  Abolitionists  were  laboring  to  accom 
plish  the  very  object  for  which  the  Union  was  formed  ;  and 
that  their  doctrines,  if  obeyed,  and  not  too  late,  would  save  it. 
He  declared  that  the  alternative  was  presented  to  the  people 
of  New  England  either  to  submit  to  be  gagged  by  Southern 
taskmasters  or  to  labor  unceasingly  for  the  removal  of  slavery 
from  the  country.  "  We  loudly  boast  of  our  free  country,"  he 
said,  "  and  of  the  union  of  these  States  ;  yet  I  have  no  coun 
try  !  As  a  New-Englander  and  as  an  Abolitionist,  I  am  ex 
cluded  by  a  bloody  proscription  from  one  half  of  the  national 
territory  ;  and  so  is  every  man  who  is  known  to  regard  slavery 
with  abhorrence.  Where  is  our  Union  ?  and  of  what  value  is 
it  to  me,  or  to  any  one  who  believes  that  liberty  is  the  inalien 
able  right  of  every  man,  independent  of  the  color  of  his  skin 
or  the  texture  of  his  hair  ?  We  cannot  enjoy  the  privileges 
of  the  Union.  The  right  of  free  and  safe  locomotion  from 
one  part  of  the  land  to  the  other  is  denied  to  us,  except  on  peril 
of  our  lives  !  They  who  preach  that  slaveholding  is  sin,  and 
that  immediate  emancipation  is  the  duty  of  every  master, 
might  as  safely  leap  into  a  den  of  lions,  or  into  a  fiery  fur 
nace,  as  to  go  into  the  Southern  States !  " 

William  Goodell  reminded  the  committee  that,  as  the  people 
were  not  prepared  to  receive  a  law  which  should  infringe  the 
liberty  of  speech,  the  opposers  of  abolition  were  driven  to  the 
necessity  of  operating  indirectly  against  them.  He  protested 
against  any  legislative  censure,  because  it  would  be  a  usurpa 
tion  of  authority.  The  legislature  was  not  a  judicial  body,  and 
had  no  right  to  pronounce  condemnation  on  any  one.  He  was 
here  interrupted  by  Mr.  Lunt,  who  sharply  said  :  "  You  must 
not  indulge  in  such  remarks,  sir.  We  cannot  sit  here  and 
permit  you  to  instruct  us  as  to  the  duties  of  the  legislature." 
In  spite,  however,  of  this  interruption,  Mr.  Goodell  proceeded, 


NORTHERN  LEGISLATION  DEMANDED.  333 

and  maintained  with  great  force  that  the  Constitution  secured 
to  the  Abolitionists  the  right  to  do  all  they  had  done  or  in 
tended  to  do. 

Professor  Charles  Follen  had  been  selected  by  the  board  of 
managers  as  one  of  the  committee  to  appear  before  the  legisla 
tive  committee.  Born  in  Germany,  he  had  joined  in  his  youth 
the  young  men  of  that  country  in  emancipating  his  native  land 
from  French  domination.  Devoted  to  liberty,  he  was  driven 
by  persecution  to  seek  a  home  in  the  United  States.  Hon 
ored  for  his  profound  scholarship  and  beloved  for  his  private 
virtues,  he  was  made  an  instructor  in  Harvard  University.  On 
the  establishment  of  the  "  Liberator  "  he  early  sought  out  its 
editor,  and  at  great  personal  sacrifice  took  and  maintained  his 
position  among  the  despised  Abolitionists.  He  commenced  his 
speech  with  a  series  of  philosophical  remarks  upon  the  rights 
of  man,  the  spirit  and  purposes  of  republican  institutions  in 
the  United  States,  and  maintained  that  liberty  of  speech  was 
essential  to  the  maintenance  of  the  government.  He  alluded 
to  the  attempts  to  excite  odium  against  the  Abolitionists,  and 
to  the  demands  of  Southern  legislatures  for  the  suppression  of 
their  doctrines  by  penal  laws.  He  referred  to  the  Faneuil 
Hall  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Boston,  and  to  its  censure  of 
the  Abolitionists,  which  the  mob  regarded  as  a  warrant  for  its 
proceedings  on  the  21st  of  October.  "  Now,  gentlemen,"  he 
asked,  "  may  we  not  reasonably  anticipate  that  similar  conse 
quences  would  follow  the  expression  by  the  legislature  of  a 
similar  condemnation  ?  Would  not  the  mob  again  undertake 
to  execute  the  informal  sentence  of  the  general  court  ?  Would 
it  not  let  loose  again  its  bloodhounds  upon  us  ?  " 

"  Stop,  sir ! "  exclaimed  Lunt.  "  You  may  not  pursue  this 
course  of  remark.  It  is  insulting  to  this  committee,  and  the 
legislature  which  they  represent." 

Dr.  Follen  calmly  remarked  that  he  had  not  intimated,  nor 
did  he  believe,  that  the  legislature  would  countenance  an 
act  of  violence.  But  Mr.  Lunt  curtly  replied :  "  The  com 
mittee  consider  the  remarks  you  have  made  very  improper, 
and  cannot  permit  you  to  proceed."  Dr.  Follen  then  sat 
down,  amid  evidences  of  deep  emotion  and  displeasure  on 


334       EISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN   AMERICA. 

the  part  of  the  audience  at  this  conduct  of  the  chairman. 
Mr.  Moseley  earnestly  remonstrated  with  Mr.  Lunt ;  and  Mr. 
May  explicitly  declared  his  dissatisfaction  at  the  course  pur- 
sued  by  the  committee.  He  expressed  his  regret  that  the 
chairman  had  stopped  Dr.  Follen,  and  concurred  entirely  with 
that  gentleman  in  expressing  the  opinion  that  a  vote  of  censure 
by  the  legislature  would  give  encouragement  to  such  scenes 
of  violence. 

To  these  remarks  Lunt  sharply  replied :  "  Whatever  you, 
sir,  and  your  associates,  may  think  of  the  remarks  of  Dr. 
Follen,  it  is  for  the  committee  to  decide  whether  they  were 
proper  or  improper.  You  are  not  to  dictate  to  us  in  what  man 
ner  we  shall  conduct  the  proceedings  of  this  examination." 
He  told  the  representatives  of  the  Antislavery  Society  that  they 
had  no  right  to  claim  a  hearing,  and  that  it  was  a  matter  of 
special  favor  that  they  had  been  admitted  to  that  interview  at  all. 
Mr.  May  reminded  the  committee  that  the  Senate  Chamber  was 
then  occupied  by  committees  listening  to  individuals  touching 
the  interests  of  moneyed  institutions  ;  that  they  had  sought  an 
interview  on  a  subject  infinitely  greater  than  all  the  moneyed 
interests  in  the  land,  —  the  cause  of  freedom  and  humanity. 
To  this  Lunt  tartly  answered :  "  I  conceive,  sir,  that  you  are 
here  to  exculpate  yourselves,  if  you  can,  from  the  charges 
laid  against  you ;  and  not  to  instruct  us  as  to  what  we  are  to 
do  in  reference  to  the  communications  we  have  received  from 
certain  other  States." 

To  this  impertinent  and  gratuitous  remark  Mr.  May  re 
sponded  :  "  We  are  not  here,  sir,  as  culprits.  We  do  not  feel 
dike  culprits,  nor  do  we  mean  to  act  as  such.  We  know  that 
we  are  aiming  to  accomplish  a  great  public  good,  and  to  avert 
great  national  evils.  We  feel  that  we  are  standing  up  before 
the  world  in  the  defence  of  high  moral  and  religious  principles, 
—  principles  the  continued  disregard  of  which  must  bring  ruin 
on  our  country.  We  have  come  in  the  hope  that  we  may  do 
something  to  induce  the  State  of  Massachusetts  to  take  a  stand 
worthy  of  herself,  to  stand  up  as  a  bulwark  that  shall  stay  and 
turn  back  the  proud  waves  of  oppression  which  are  rolling  over 
the  land."  After  consultation,  Mr.  May  notified  the  committee 


NORTHERN  LEGISLATION  DEMANDED.  335 

that  they  would  present  a  remonstrance  to  the  legislature  the 
next  day,  and  hoped  that  they  might  hereafter  meet  the  com 
mittee  with  a  better  understanding  of  their  rights. 

The  next  day  a  memorial  was  presented  to  the  legislature, 
complaining  of  this  treatment  by  the  committee,  and  asking 
the  recognition  of  their  right  to  appear  and  give  their  reasons 
why  the  legislature  should  not  pass  resolutions  of  condemna 
tion  against  the  Abolitionists.  This  memorial  was  referred  to 
the  committee,  and  another  hearing  was  granted  in  the  hall 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  which  was  thronged  by  gen 
tlemen  and  ladies,  who  manifested  the  deepest  interest  in  the 
proceedings. 

Samuel  E.  Sewall  addressed  the  committee  against  yielding 
to  the  demands  of  the  slaveholding  States,  which  would, 
he  said,  be  to  subvert  the  foundation  of  civil  liberties,  and 
make  it  criminal  to  obey  the  laws  of  God  and  follow  the  ex 
ample  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  maintained  that,  if  Massachusetts 
were  to  pass  the  laws  required  of  her,  punishing  her  citizens 
for  speaking  and  writing  against  slavery,  it  would  not  repress 
the  opinions  of  Abolitionists.  "  Who  and  what,"  he  asked, 
"  are  the  men  whose  mouths  it  is  proposed  k>  stop  by  violence 
and  unconstitutional  laws  ?  Men  of  integrity,  of  piety,  of  zeal, 
of  perseverance,  of  intelligence, —  men  who  are  conscientiously 
devoted  to  their  opinions,  and  as  ready  to  suffer  imprisonment, 
fines,  stripes,  persecutions,  and  death  for  the  sake  of  their 
opinions  and  their  consciences,  as  ever  was  any  persecuted 
sect." 

Dr.  Follen  maintained,  with  mingled  mildness  and  firmness, 
the  sacred  rights  of  free  discussion.  The  legislature,  he  con 
tended,  could  not  censure  freedom  of  speech  in  the  Abolition 
ists  without  preparing  the  way  to  censure  it  in  other  citizens 
who  might  for  the  moment  be  obnoxious  to  the  majority.  He 
expressed  the  opinion  that  the  mobs  which  had  brought  so 
much  discredit  upon  the  country  had  acted  under  the  delusion 
that  the  Abolitionists  wanted  to  infringe  the  compacts  of  the 
Constitution  and  destroy  the  Union.  "  As  a  friend  of  liberty," 
ne  said,  "I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  look  upon  the  popular  ex 
citement  from  which  my  friends  have  suffered  in  this  light ; 


336       EISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

but  when  Judge  Lynch  has  presided,  I  must  say  as  I  said  the 
other  day  —  "  "I  call  you  to  order  !  "  passionately  exclaimed 
the  chairman.  "  This  is  not  respectful  to  the  committee."  Dr. 
Follen  expressed  his  unconsciousness  of  saying  anything  dis 
respectful  to  the  committee,  and  significantly  asked  if  he  must 
understand  that  speaking  disrespectfully  of  mobs  was  speak 
ing  disrespectfully  of  the  committee.  To  this  inquiry  Lunt 
replied  that  the  allusion  was  improper,  and  could  not  be  per 
mitted  while  he  occupied  the  chair.  Mr.  Moseley  expressed 
his  dissent  from  the  decision  of  the  chairman,  saw  nothing 
disrespectful  in  Dr.  Follen's  remarks,  and  pronounced  him 
entirely  in  order.  The  Doctor  then  proceeded,  and  closed 
without  further  interruption. 

William  Goodell  followed  in  a  terse,  able,  and  eloquent 
speech,  in  which  he  charged  upon  those  who  promulgated  the 
doctrines  embodied  in  the  documents  from  the  Southern  States 
before  the  committee  an  attempt  "  to  destroy  the  free  labor  of 
the  North,  and  reduce  our  free  laboring  citizens  to  the  physi 
cal  and  moral  condition  of  their  slaves."  He  quoted  the  lan 
guage  of  Mr.  Leigh  of  Virginia,  then  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  and  of  Mr.  McDuffie  of  South  Carolina,  in  which 
they  maintained,  in  substance,  that  the  laboring  population  of 
no  nation  on  earth  is  entitled  to  liberty,  or  capable  of  enjoying 
it.  He  then  charged  the  Southern  legislatures  with  a  deep  and 
foul  conspiracy  against  the  liberties  of  the  free  laboring  people 
of  the  North.  Here  he  was  interrupted  by  the  chairman,  and 
told  that  "  he  must  not  charge  Southern  States  with  a  foul  con 
spiracy,  nor  treat  their  public  documents  with  disrespect." 
Mr.  Goodell,  proceeding,  quoted  the  language  of  Governor 
McDuffie's  message  and  the  action  of  the  South  Carolina  legis 
lature  ;  and,  pointing  to  the  Southern  documents  lying  upon  the 
table  of  the  committee,  characterized  them  as  fetters  for  North 
ern  freemen,  and  asked  this  pregnant  question :  "  Mr.  Chair 
man,  are  you  prepared  to  attempt  putting  them  on  ?  " 

Here  Mr.  Lunt  cried  out  with  great  warmth,  "  Stop,  sir !  Sit 
down,  sir!  The  committee  will  hear  no  more  of  this."  Mr. 
Goodell  firmly  remarked  that  his  duty  was  discharged ;  that 
they  came  there  as  freemen,  and  they  would  go  away  as  free- 


NORTHERN   LEGISLATION  DEMANDED.  337 

men  should.  The  audience  had  watched  the  proceedings  with 
the  deepest  interest ;  and  some  one  exclaimed,  as  the  voice  of 
Mr.  Goodell  fell  upon  the  ear :  "  Let  us  go  quickly,  lest  we 
be  made  slaves !  "  Mr.  May  appealed  again  to  the  chairman 
for  a  hearing,  but  the  latter  intimated  that  the  committee  had 
heard  enough. 

As  the  excited  and  indignant  audience  was  retiring,  Dr. 
Gamaliel  Bradford  of  Plymouth  County,  not  a  member  of 
the  Antislavery  Society,  came  forward  and  made  an  earnest 
appeal  for  liberty  of  speech  and  of  the  press,  and  of  the  right 
of  private  judgment.  When  he  sat  down,  George  Bond,  a 
prominent  merchant  and  a  gentleman  of  high  character  and 
influence,  asked  leave  to  address  a  few  words  to  the  commit 
tee.  Leave  having  been  granted,  he  expressed  his  fears  that 
the  action  of  the  committee  would  produce  excitement  through 
out  the  commonwealth.  "  I  have  certainly  heard  nothing,"  he 
remarked,  "  from  the  gentlemen  of  the  Antislavery  Society, 
that  called  for  the  course  that  has  been  adopted  ;  and  it  does 
seem  to  me  that  the  committee  are  too  fastidious,  —  too  hyper 
critical."  "  Be  careful  of  what  you  say,  sir,"  ejaculated  Mr. 
Lunt.  In  spite  of  this  interruption,  Mr.  Bond  went  on,  and 
implored  the  committee  to  allow  the  antislavery  gentlemen  to 
say  what  they  wished  to  say,  although  their  language  might 
not  be  such  as  to  suit  the  committee.  But  the  committee 
broke  up  without  a  formal  adjournment ;  and,  as  the  chair 
man  was  retiring,  Mr.  Moseley,  one  of  his  own  townsmen,  said 
to  him :  "  I  am  not  satisfied  with  your  course.  You  have  been 
wrong  from  the  beginning.  I  will  not  sit  again  on  such  a 
committee." 

Many  persons  who  witnessed  the  discreditable  conduct  of 
the  chairman  of  that  committee  freely  expressed  their  indig 
nation,  and  from  that  time  committed  themselves  to  the  cause 
of  liberty,  then  so  imperilled.  Dr.  William  Ellery  Charming, 
who  had  attended  the  hearing,  much  to  the  gratification  of  the 
Abolitionists,  with  whom  he  had  not  co-operated,  approached 
Mr.  Garrison  and  offered  him  his  hand,  adding  expressions 
of  sympathy  and  encouragement.  Seth  Whitmarsh,  a  Demo 
cratic  member  of  the  Senate  from  the  county  of  Bristol; 

43 


338       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

Robert  Rantoul,  Jr.,  a  leading  Democratic  member  of  the 
House  ;  and  George  S.  Hillard,  a  Representative  from  Bos 
ton, —  sharply  criticised,  in  their  places,  the  action  of  the 
committee. 

Mr.  Lunt,  in  his  report,  spoke  of  the  demands  of  Southern 
legislatures  for  the  enactment  of  penal  laws  for  the  suppres 
sion  of  antislavery  societies,  meetings,  and  publications,  as 
"  of  the  most  solemn  and  affecting  character ;  as  appeals  to 
our  justice  as  men,  to  our  sympathies  as  brethren,  to  our 
patriotism  as  citizens  ;  to  the  memory  of  the  common  trials 
and  perils  of  our  ancestors  and  theirs  ;  to  all  the  better  emo 
tions  of  our  nature  ;  to  our  respect  for  the  Constitution ;  to 
our  regard  for  the  laws  ;  to  our  hope  for  the  security  of  all 
those  blessings  which  the  Union  and  that  only  can  preserve  to 
us."  The  committee  further  declared  that  "  the  right  of  the 
master  to  his  slave  is  as  undoubted  as  the  right  to  any  other 
property  "  ;  that  "  any  attempt,  whether  direct  or  indirect,  to 
deprive  him  of  this  property  is  a  violation  of  the  fixed  laws  of 
social  policy,  as  well  as  of  the  ordinary  rules  of  moral  obliga 
tion  "  ;  and  that  "  his  argument  that  the  property  is  his  own 
would  seem  to  be  unanswerable."  The  conduct  of  the  Aboli 
tionists  was  declared  to  be  "  not  only  wrong  in  policy,  but 
erroneous  in  morals  "  ;  and  the  charges  brought  against  the 
Abolitionists  by  the  South  were  declared  to  be  strictly  applica 
ble  to  them.  To  the  report  was  appended  a  series  of  reso 
lutions  expressing  "  entire  disapprobation  of  the  doctrines 
avowed  and  the  general  measures  pursued  by  such  as  agitate 
the  general  question  of  slavery."  This  report  and  resolutions 
were  laid  upon  the  table  and  never  acted  upon. 

This  course  of  Mr.  Lurit  excited  so  much  feeling  against 
him  in  Essex  County  that  he  was  not  put  in  nomination  for  the 
Senate  the  next  year  ;  but  he  was  elected  to  the  House.  Both 
in  public  and  private  life,  however,  he  has  persistently  adhered 
to  the  position  he  then  assumed,  and  all  measures  for  emanci 
pation  and  the  overthrow  of  the  Slave  Power  have  encountered 
his  bitter  and  relentless  opposition.  Nor  during  the  slave 
holders'  Rebellion  did  his  tongue  or  pen  ever  meet  the  true 
demands  of  loyalty. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

INCENDIARY  PUBLICATION  BILL.  —  ADMISSION  OF  ARKANSAS.  — 
CONVERSION  OF  FREE  SOIL  INTO  SLAVE  SOIL.  —  ATTEMPT  TO 
CENSURE  MR.  ADAMS.  —  RIGHT  OF  PETITION  DENIED. 

President  Jackson's  Message.  —  Referred  to  a  Special  Committee.  —  Mr.  Cal- 
houn's  Report.  — Incendiary  Publication  Bill.  — Debate  thereon.  — Mr.  Van 
Buren's  casting  Vote.  —  Defeat  of  the  Bill.  —  Application  of  Arkansas  for  Ad 
mission  into  the  Union.  —  Constitution  guarantees  Perpetual  Slavery.  —  De 
bate  on  the  Admission.  —  Mr.  Adams's  Amendment  rejected.  —  Arkansas 
admitted.  —  The  Boundaries  of  Missouri  extended.  —  Free  Soil  made  Slave 
Soil.  —  Success  of  the  Slaveholders.  —  Second  Session  of  the  XXI Vth  Con 
gress.  —  Presentation  of  Antislavery  Petitions.  —  Presentation  of  a  Petition 
by  Mr.  Adams  purporting  to  come  from  Slaves.  —  Violent  Scene  in  the  House. 

—  Mr.  Patton's  Motion  to  return  the  Petition  to  Mr.  Adams.  —  Motion  of  Mr. 
Thompson  to  censure  Mr.  Adams.  —  Substitute  moved  by  Mr.  Lewis.  —  Angry 
Debate.  —  Mr.  Adams's  Defence.  —  Triumph  of  Mr.  Adams.  —  Speech  of  Mr. 
Slade. — Violent  Scene. — Caucus  of  Southern  Members. — Adoption  of  Mr. 
Patton's  Resolution.  — Antislavery  Papers  not  to  be  debated,  printed,  or  read. 

—  Subserviency  of  Congress. 

WHEN  Congress  assembled  in  1835,  the  country  was  deeply 
excited  by  recent  events.  The  year  had  been  marked  by  riot 
ous  demonstrations  and  lawless  violence.  Bitter  animosities 
toward  the  hated  and  dreaded  Abolitionists  pervaded  the 
South.  Her  people  were  vehement  in  demanding  action 
against  them  by  Northern  legislatures  and  by  Congress  ;  and 
her  representatives  came  to  Washington  fully  imbued  with  the 
passions  of  their  constituents. 

President  Jackson  in  his  message  invited  attention  to  what 
he  was  pleased  to  call  "  the  painful  excitement  in  the  South, 
produced  by  attempts  to  circulate  through  the  mails  inflamma 
tory  appeals  addressed  to  the  passions  of  the  slaves,  calculated 
to  stimulate  them  to  insurrection,  and  to  produce  all  the  hor 
rors  of  a  servile  war."  He  expressed  the  opinion  that  public 
sentiment  would  check  such  proceedings  of  misguided  per- 


340       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

sons  ;  but,  if  it  failed  to  do  so,  he  thought  that  the  non-slave- 
holding  States  would  be  prompt  to  exercise  authority  in  sup 
pressing  such  attempts.  He  suggested  to  Congress  "  the 
propriety  of  passing  such  a  law  as  will  prohibit,  under  severe 
penalty,  the  circulation  in  the  Southern  States,  through  the 
mail,  of  incendiary  publications,  intended  to  instigate  the 
slaves  to  insurrection." 

Mr.  Calhoun  moved  the  reference  of  so  much  of  the  Presi 
dent's  message  as  related  to  the  transmission  of  incendiary 
publications  through  the  mail  to  a  select  committee.  After  a 
brief  debate  his  motion  was  agreed  to,  and  a  committee  of 
five  —  consisting  of  Calhoun,  King  of  Georgia,  Man  gum  of 
North  Carolina,  Linn  of  Missouri,  and  Davis  of  Massachu 
setts  —  was  appointed.  A  bill  was  reported,  accompanied 
by  an  elaborate  report  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Calhoun.  The 
report  was  concurred  in  by  Mangum  ;  but  Davis,  King,  and 
Linn  were  prompt  to  declare  that  they  did  not  concur  in  all 
the  positions  of  that  report.  Mr.  King  even  went  so  far  as 
to  characterize  it  as  not  only  inconsistent  with  the  bill,  but 
with  "  the  existence  of  the  Union  itself,  and  which,  if  estab 
lished  and  carried  into  practice,  must  hastily  end  in  its  disso 
lution." 

The  report  maintained  that  slavery  in  the  Southern  States 
could  not  be  abolished  without  "  disasters  unexampled  in  the 
history  of  the  world  "  ;  that  to  destroy  the  existing  relations 
would  be  to  place  the  two  races  "  in  a  state  of  conflict,  which 
must  end  in  the  expulsion  or  extirpation  of  one  or  the  other." 
It  maintained,  too,  that  social  and  political  equality  between 
them  was  impossible  ;  that  no  power  on  earth  could  overcome 
the  difficulty  ;  that,  without  such  equality,  to  change  the  pres 
ent  condition  of  the  African  race  would  be  but  to  change  the 
form  of  slavery,  —  would  make  them  the  slaves  of  society,  in 
stead  of  the  slaves  of  individuals.  It  avowed  that  the  slave- 
holding  States  would  not  quietly  submit  to  be  sacrificed,  that 
every  consideration  would  impel  them  to  the  most  daring  and 
desperate  resistance  ;  and  that  the  subversion  of  the  relation 
between  master  and  slave  would  be  followed  by  convulsions, 
would  "  devastate  the  country,  burst  asunder  the  bonds  of  the 


INCENDIARY   PUBLICATION  BILL.  341 

Union,  and  ingulf  in  a  sea  of  blood  the  institutions  of  the 
country." 

The  bill  was  taken  up  for  consideration  early  in  April,  and 
its  provisions  explained  by  Mr.  Calhoun.  Mr.  Davis  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  a  member  of  the  committee,  opposed  it  in  a  speech 
of  great  clearness  and  force,  in  which  he  demonstrated  its 
unconstitutionally  and  insidious  and  dangerous  character. 
He  thought  it  very  impolitic  to  pass  a  law  that  would  make 
every  citizen  feel  that  he  was  restrained  in  his  privileges  in 
consequence  of  slavery.  He  warned  gentlemen  that  such 
an  act  would  **ouse  up  the  spirit  of  resentment  against  slavery 
and  excite  the  people  to  oppose  it.  "  But  if  you  would  tran 
quillize  public  feeling,"  he  said,  "  I  would  recommend  to  you 
to  keep  slavery  as  far  out  of  sight  and  hearing  as  possible,  and 
never  call  on  the  public  to  make  sacrifices  of  their  rights  and 
privileges  to  sustain  it." 

Mr.  King,  who  dissented  from  the  reasoning  of  the  report, 
gave  his  support  to  the  bill ;  but,  in  doing  so,  imputed  to  Mr. 
Calhoun  motives  of  action  growing  out  of  his  relations  with 
President  Jackson.  After  vindicating  his  motives  and  explain 
ing  his  actions,  Mr.  Calhoun  avowed  that  the  refusal  of  Congress 
to  pass  his  bill  would  be  virtually  to  co-operate  with  the  Abo 
litionists,  and  would  make  the  officers  of  the  Post-Office  Depart 
ment  their  agents  in  the  circulation  of  incendiary  publications. 
He  warned  Congress  that  by  the  refusal  to  pass  the  bill  it  would 
clearly  enlist  on  the  side  of  the  Abolitionists  against  the  South 
ern  States,  and  that  the  South  would  have  nothing  to  hope 
from  them,  let  their  decision  be  what  it  might.  The  South 
never  would,  he  said,  abandon  the  principles  of  the  bill,  but 
would  resort  to  "  State  interposition  as  the  rightful  remedy." 
He  maintained  that  in  "  this  well-tested  and  efficient  remedy, 
sustained  by  the  principles  developed  in  the  report  and  asserted 
in  this  bill,  the  slaveholding  States  have  an  ample  protection. 
Let  it  be  fixed,  let  it  be  riveted  in  every  Southern  mind,  that 
the  laws  of  the  slaveholding  States  for  the  protection  of  their 
domestic  institutions  are  paramount  to  the  laws  of  the  general 
government  in  regulations  of  commerce  and  the  mail,  and  that 
the  latter  must  yield  to  the  former  in  the  event  of  conflict; 


342       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

and  that,  if  the  government  should  refuse  to  yield,  the  States 
have  a  right  to  interpose,  and  we  are  safe.  With  these  princi 
ples,  nothing  but  concert  would  be  wanting  to  bid  defiance  to- 
the  movements  of  the  Abolitionists,  whether  at  home  or  abroad, 
and  to  place  our  domestic  institutions,  and,  with  them,  our  secur 
ity  and  peace,  under  our  own  protection  and  beyond  the  reach 
of  danger." 

Mr.  Benton  would  not  make  the  United  States  a  packhorse 
for  the  Abolitionists  ;  but  he  could  not  vote  to  invest  ten  thou 
sand  postmasters  with  such  authority,  even  to  suppress  aboli 
tion  publications.  Mr.  Webster  spoke  at  length  against  the 
passage  of  a  bill  which  he  deemed  contrary  to  that  provision  of 
the  Constitution  which  prohibits  Congress  from  passing  any 
law  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech  or  of  the  press.  Mr. 
Clay,  too,  opposed  the  passage  of  the  bill,  which  he  declared 
lo  be  of  "  a  most  dangerous  tendency."  He  avowed  that  it 
«ras  calculated  to  destroy  all  the  landmarks  of  the  Constitution, 
establish  a  precedent  for  dangerous  legislation,  and  lead  to 
incalculable  mischief ;  and  he  distinctly  announced  that  from 
the  first  to  the  last  he  was  opposed  to  the  measure.  Mr.  Bu 
chanan  gave  his  support  to  the  measure,  maintaining  that 
it  was  in  conformity  with  the  President's  recommendation, 
and  was  demanded  by  the  necessities  of  the  country.  Other 
senators  participated  in  the  debate,  which  ran  through  several 
weeks. 

On  the  engrossment  of  the  bill,  Mr.  Calhoun  demanded  the 
yeas  and  nays.  Eighteen  senators  voted  for  it,  and  eighteen 
against  it.  Yice-President  Yan  Buren  was  then  a  candidate 
for  the  presidency.  When  the  vote  was  taken  on  the  en 
grossment  he  was  walking  in  the  space  in  the  rear  of  the  chair 
of  the  presiding  officer.  Mr.  Calhoun  called  for  the  Yice- 
President,  and  Mr.  Yan  Buren  promptly  took  the  chair  and 
gave  his  casting  vote  in  favor  of  the  bill.  Mr.  Wright  and 
Mr.  Tallmadge  of  New  York,  political  friends  of  Mr.  Yan 
Buren,  voted  for  that  extraordinary  measure.  After  further 
debate,  the  final  vote  was  taken  on  the  passage  of  the  bill, 
and  it  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  nineteen  to  twenty-five. 
Mr.  Benton,  Mr.  Clay,  Mr.  Crittenden,  and  four  other  Southern 


ADMISSION   OF  ARKANSAS.  343 

senators,  voted  against  this  measure,  which  received  the  sup 
port  of  Van  Buren,  Wright,  and  Buchanan.  These  Northern 
statesmen  were  unquestionably  actuated  by  policy  rather  than 
by  principle.  In  so  acting  they  recognized  the  controlling 
influence  of  slavery  and  bowed  to  its  dominant  behest. 

The  Territories  of  Arkansas  and  Michigan  applied  to  Con 
gress  for  enabling  acts,  but  Congress  neglected  or  refused 
their  application.  The  people  of  these  Territories,  failing  to 
obtain  authority  to  hold  conventions,  had  framed  State  consti 
tutions,  and  in  the  winter  of  1836  asked  admission  into  the 
Union.  A  bill  for  the  admission  of  Michigan  was  reported  by 
Mr.  Benton,  and  another  for  the  admission  of  Arkansas  was 
reported  by  Mr.  Buchanan.  One  was  a  free  State,  the  other  a 
slave  State.  It  was  the  purpose  of  the  supporters  of  the  ad 
ministration  that  they  should  go  through  together,  so  as  to 
keep  up  the  equilibrium  between  the  free  and  the  slave  States. 

Mr.  Morris  of  Ohio,  believing  slavery  to  be  wrong  in  princi 
ple  and  mischievous  in  practice,  said  he  would  vote  against  the 
admission  of  Arkansas,  if  he  thought  he  had  the  right  to  do  so. 
But  he  considered  that  his  political  obligations  and  the  duties 
he  owed  to  the  Constitution  required  him  to  vote  for  its  admis 
sion.  Holding  such  views,  he  announced  that  he  could  not 
refuse  his  vote,  though  the  constitution  of  that  State  did  rec 
ognize  the  existence  of  slavery.  On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Swift 
of  Vermont  declared  that  as  he  found  by  the  constitution  of 
Arkansas  that  slavery  was  made  perpetual,  he  could  never  give 
his  assent  to  her  admission. 

The  bills  for  the  admission  of  Arkansas  and  Michigan  were 
promptly  passed  by  the  Senate,  with  slight  opposition.  In  the 
House,  after  a  brief  debate,  they  were  committed  to  the  com 
mittee  of  the  whole,  and  on  the  9th  of  June  a  struggle  com 
menced  which  continued  twenty-five  hours.  Several  members 
participated  in  the  debate.  The  constitution  of  Arkansas  pro 
vided  that  the  general  assembly  should  have  no  power  to  pass 
laws  for  the  emancipation  of  slaves  without  the  consent  of  the 
owners,  or  laws  to  prevent  immigrants  from  bringing  slaves 
with  them.  Mr.  Adams  moved  to  amend  the  bill  so  as  to  de 
clare  that  nothing  in  the  act  should  be  construed  as  an  assent 


344       RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

by  Congress  to  the  articles  of  the  constitution  relating  to  slav 
ery  and  the  emancipation  of  slaves.  Mr.  Adams  held  that 
Arkansas  had  a  right  to  come  into  the  Union  "  with  her  slaves 
and  her  slave  laws."  "  It  is  written/'  he  said,  "  in  the  bond  ; 
and,  however  I  may  lament  that  it  ever  was  so  written,  I  must 
faithfully  perform  the  obligations.  I  am  content  to  receive  her 
as  one  of  the  slaveholding  States  of  the  Union  ;  but  I  am  un 
willing  that  Congress,  in  accepting  her  constitution,  should 
even  be  under  the  imputation  of  assenting  to  an  article  in  the 
constitution  of  a  State  which  withholds  from  its  legislature  the 
power  to  give  freedom  to  the  slave." 

During  the  debate  which  followed,  Mr.  Wise  inquired  of  Mr. 
Adams  whether,  if  his  amendment  should  be  adopted,  Arkan 
sas  would  be  admitted  by  the  bill  as  a  State.  To  this  inquiry 
Mr.  Adams  replied  :  "  Certainly,  sir ;  there  is  not  in  my 
amendment  the  shadow  of  a  restriction  proposed  upon  the 
State.  It  leaves  the  State,  like  all  the  rest,  to  regulate  the 
subject  of  slavery  within  herself  by  her  own  laws." 

Declaring  that  upon  the  subject  he  could  not  go  "  the  breadth 
of  a  hair  "  beyond  the  obligations  imposed  upon  him  by  the 
Constitution,  Mr.  Briggs  of  Massachusetts  emphatically  avowed 
that  he  could  not  give  his  sanction  to  the  constitution  of  Ar 
kansas,  which  doomed  a  large  portion  of  her  present  and  future 
population  to  unconditional  and  interminable  slavery ;  nor 
could  he  betray  his  own  sense  of  propriety,  or  be  treacherous 
ous  to  the  freemen  who  sent  him  there. 

During  that  excited  and  disorderly  debate,  Mr.  Wise  of  Vir 
ginia  announced  that,  as  a  Southern  man,  he  felt  it  his  duty  to 
take  a  stand  in  behalf  of  slavery,  which  he  dignified  as  an  in 
stitution  of  the  South.  He  announced  that,  if  the  members 
from  the  North  sought  to  impose  restrictions  upon  slavery,  the 
men  of  the  South  might  be  impelled  to  introduce  slavery  in  the 
heart  of  the  North. 

To  this  menace  Mr.  Cushing  of  Massachusetts,  after  express 
ing  the  hope  that  it  was  not  a  deliberate  and  cherished  purpose, 
but  a  hasty  thought  struck  out  in  the  ardor  of  debate,  thus 
eloquently  replied :  "  To  introduce  slavery  into  the  heart  of 
the  North  !  Yain  idea !  Invasion,  pestilence,  civil  war,  may 


CONVERSION   OF   FREE   SOIL  INTO  SLAVE  SOIL.  345 

conspire  to  exterminate  the  eight  millions  of  free  spirits  who 
now  dwell  there.  This,  in  the  long  lapse  of  ages  incalculable, 
is  possible  to  happen.  You  may  raze  to  the  earth  the  thronged 
cities,  the  industrious  villages,  the  peaceful  hamlets  of  the  North. 
You  may  lay  waste  its  fertile  valleys  and  verdant  hillsides. 
You  may  plant  its  very  soil  with  salt,  and  consign  it  to  ever 
lasting  desolation.  You  may  transform  its  beautiful  fields  into 
a  desert  as  bare  as  the  black  face  of  the  sands  of  Sahara.  You 
may  reach  the  realization  of  the  infernal  boast  with  which  Attila 
the  Hun  marched  his  barbaric  hosts  into  Italy,  demolishing 
whatever  there  is  of  civilization  or  prosperity  in  the  happy 
dwellings  of  the  North,  and  reducing  their  very  substance  to 
powder,  so  that  a  squadron  of  cavalry  shall  gallop  over  the  site 
of  populous  cities,  unimpeded  as  the  wild  steeds  on  the  savan 
nas  of  the  West.  All  this  you  may  do  ;  it  is  within  the  bounds 
of  physical  possibility.  But  I  solemnly  assure  every  gentle 
man  within  the  sound  of  my  voice,  I  proclaim  to  the  country 
and  to  the  world,  that  until  all  this  be  fully  accomplished  to 
the  uttermost  extremity  of  the  letter  you  cannot,  you  shall 
not,  introduce  slavery  into  the  heart  of  the  North." 

The  amendment  of  Mr.  Adams  received  but  thirty-two 
votes.  Fifty  members  only  voted  against  the  admission  of 
Arkansas  ;  and  most  of  their  votes  were  cast  not  on  account 
of  the  cruel  provision  of  her  constitution,  dooming  her  slaves 
to  hopeless  and  perpetual  servitude,  but  for  other  reasons,  per- 
mal,  political,  or  prudential.  Indeed  it  is  to  be  feared  that 
jry  few  were  governed  in  their  votes  by  the  fixed  and  unal- 
jrable  purpose  of  opposing  a  provision  so  abhorrent  to  human 
iture,  the  doctrines  of  liberty,  and  the  precepts  of  Chris 
tianity. 

Nor  was  this  the  only  victory  of  the  Slave  Power  at  this 
jsion.  To  extend  the  boundaries  of  slavery,  the  Missouri 
Compromise  line  was  changed,  so  as  to  give  to  Missouri  a  free 
territory,  lying  between  the  line  of  that  State  and  the  Missouri 
River,  large  enough  to  form  seven  counties.  Under  the  per 
suasive  influences  of  the  delegation  from  that  State,  John  M. 
iyton,  from  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  reported  a  bill 
jiving  that  fertile  territory,  larger  than  the  States  of  Delaware 

44 


346        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

and  Rhode  Island  combined,  to  Missouri.  It  passed  both 
Houses  with  hardly  any  opposition.  This  territory  was  not 
only  free,  but  it  had  been  recently  assigned  by  treaty  to  the 
Sac  and  Fox  Indians.  A  new  treaty  with  these  tribes  was 
negotiated  and  ratified,  the  Indians  were  removed  from  the 
coveted  territory,  and  the  slaveholders  entered  with  their 
bondmen.  From  this  territory,  given  to  slavery  in  1836, 
went  forth  the  hordes  of  border-ruffians  that  overran  Kansas 
twenty  years  afterward,  seeking  by  fraud  and  violence  to  plant 
slavery  west  of  the  Missouri  River. 

But  violent  and  repressive  measures  did  not  avail ;  they  did 
not  check,  they  did  but  increase,  the  agitation  of  that  period. 
Something  more  potent  than  laying  abolition  petitions  on  the 
table  without  debate,  without  being  printed  or  referred,  was 
necessary  to  arrest  the  action  of  the  men  and  women  who 
acknowledged  the  guilt  of  any  responsibility  for  the  existence 
and  preservation  of  slavery  and  the  slave-trade  in  the  District 
of  Columbia.  Consequently,  at  the  second  session  of  the 
XXI Vth  Congress,  a  large  number  of  petitions  were  presented 
praying  for  their  abolition.  But  the  House,  under  the  lead  of 
Mr.  Hawes  of  Kentucky,  voted  again,  by  a  large  majority,  that 
such  petitions  should  be  laid  upon  the  table  without  being 
printed  or  referred. 

But  Mr.  Adams,  in  the  persistent  prosecution  of  his  avowed 
policy  of  presenting  petitions  whether  he  approved  of  their 
purpose  or  not,  stated  to  the  presiding  officer  in  February  that 
he  had  in  his  possession  a  paper  upon  which  he  desired  his  de 
cision.  It  came  from  persons  declaring  themselves  to  be  slaves, 
and  he  wished  to  know  whether  it  would  be  considered  as  com 
ing  under  the  rule  of  the  House.  The  speaker  said  it  was  a 
novel  case,  which  he  would  submit  to  the  House  for  its  decis 
ion.  This  became  the  occasion  of  a  heated  and  characteristic 
discussion.  Mr.  Lawler  of  Alabama  objected  to  its  going  to 
the  table.  Mr.  Lewis  of  the  same  State  contended  that  the 
slaveholding  representatives  ought  to  demand  of  the  House 
the  full  exercise  of  its  power  to  punish  any  member  who 
should  offer  such  a  petition.  If  this  was  not  done,  and  that 
promptly,  he  contended  that  the  members  from  the  slavehold- 


PRESENTATION   OF   ANTISLAVERY   PETITIONS.  347 

ing  States  should  immediately  in  a  body  leave  the  House  and 
return  to  their  constituents.  Mr.  Grantland  of  Georgia 
avowed  his  willingness  not  only  to  second  the  motion  for  the 
punishment  of  the  offender,  but  to  go  all  length  in  securing  its 
infliction  ;  and  Mr.  Alford  of  the  same  State  was  prepared  to 
move  that  the  paper  should  be  burned. 

Mr.  Patton  of  Virginia  said  that  he  had  examined  the  peti 
tion,  which  purported  to  have  come  from  nine  women  of  Fred- 
ericksburg,  in  his  State.  He  stated,  upon  his  responsibility  as 
a  man,  that  he  could  find  the  name  of  no  woman  of  decent 
respectability  of  that  town  upon  the  paper.  He  recognized 
among  them  one  name  only,  and  that  of  a  mulatto  woman  of 
notoriously  infamous  character  and  reputation.  The  rules 
being  suspended,  he  moved  that  the  petition  be  taken  from  the 
table  and  returned  to  the  gentleman  who  presented  it. 

Mr.  Thompson  of  South  Carolina  moved  an  amendment,  that 
Mr.  Adams  had  been  guilty  of  a  gross  disrespect  to  the  House 
in  presenting  a  petition  purporting  to  come  from  slaves,  and 
that  he  be  instantly  brought  to  the  bar  of  the  House  to  receive 
the  severe  censure  of  the  Speaker.  This  motion  of  Mr. 
Thompson  received  some  significance  from  the  fact  that  he 
was  a  Whig,  revealing,  as  it  did,  the  anxiety  of  the  leading 
politicians  of  that  party  to  stand  well  with  the  South.  At  the 
same  time  it  afforded  a  fair  illustration  of  the  mode  by  which 
the  leaders  of  the  Slave  Power  were  enabled  to  control  the 
two  national  parties,  as,  by  thus  pitting  them  against  each 
other,  they  generally  gained  their  support  to  their  most  ex 
treme  and  aggressive  measures.  Mr.  Thompson  also  gave 
utterance  to  the  most  ultra  sentiments  on  the  subject  of 
slavery ;  saying  that  he  was  thankful  and  proud  that  he  was 
born  an  American,  a  slaveholder,  and  a  South-Carolinian. 
He  also  expressed  the  opinion  that  African  slavery,  in  all  its 
bearings,  was  a  blessing. 

Mr.  Haynes  of  Georgia  expressed  his  great  astonishment 
that  a  member  of  the  House  could  be  guilty  of  so  great  an 
outrage  upon  the  dignity  of  that  body.  Mr.  Granger  of  New 
York,  a  prominent  and  influential  Whig,  was  the  first  member 
from  the  free  States  to  define  his  position.  He  did  it  by  ex- 


348       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

pressing  his  surprise  at  Mr.  Adams's  course,  and  by  informing 
the  House  that  he  was  opposed  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the 
District  so  long  as  it  remained  in  Maryland.  Mr.  Lewis  then 
presented  a  substitute  for  Mr.  Thompson's  resolution,  declaring 
that,  by  his  attempt  to  introduce  a  petition  from  slaves  "  pray 
ing  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District,"  Mr.  Adams 
had  committed  an  outrage  on  the  rights  and  dignity  of  a  por 
tion  of  the  people,  a  flagrant  contempt  of  the  dignity  of  the 
House,  and,  by  proposing  to  extend  to  slaves  a  privilege  be 
longing  to  white  people  only,  he  had  "  invited  the  slave  popu 
lation  of  the  South  to  insurrection."  Mr.  Thompson  accepted 
the  substitute. 

During  these  violent  proceedings  and  exhibitions  of  wrath 
Mr.  Adams  remained  calm,  simply  remarking,  at  that  stage  of 
the  proceedings,  to  Mr.  Lewis,  that  he  should  be  more  careful 
of  his  facts,  inasmuch  as  this  was  a  petition  against,  and  not 
for,  abolition  in  the  District.  This  quiet  rejoinder  greatly 
nettled  the  Southern  members,  and  Mr.  Thompson  at  once 
presented  a  modification  of  the  resolution,  to  the  effect  that 
Mr.  Adams,  by  creating  the  impression  that  the  petition  was 
for  the  abolition  of  slavery,  when  he  knew  it  was  not,  had 
trifled  with  the  House.  Deprecating  the  "  levity  which  was 
attempted  to  be  thrown  upon  the  subject,"  he  inquired :  "  Is  it 
a  mere  trifle  to  hoax  members  from  the  South  ?  to  irritate  al 
most  to  madness  the  entire  delegation  from  the  slave  States  ?  " 
To  these  fierce  interrogatories  Mr.  Adams,  without  rising  from 
his  seat,  replied  that  he  hoped  he  should  "  not  be  held  respon 
sible  for  all  the  follies  of  Southern  members." 

Mr.  Mann,  a  Democratic  representative  from  New  York, 
took  the  occasion  to  define  his  position.  Deprecating  Mr. 
Adams's  course,  he  avowed,  for  himself,  constituents,  and 
friends,  that  they  would  abide  by  the  compromises  of  the 
Constitution  and  "  live  up  to  the  contract ;  "  and  Mr.  Cambre- 
ling,  from  the  same  State,  pronounced  the  "  petition  a  hoax," 
"  probably  better  understood  by  the  gentleman  from  Massa 
chusetts  than  by  his  assailants." 

During  three  days  of  excitement  and  invective  Mr.  Adams 
had  remained  quiet  in  his  seat,  not  even  taking  notes  of  what 


ATTEMPT   TO   CENSURE   MR.  ADAMS.  349 

had  been  so  fiercely  and  acrimoniously  charged  against  him. 
After  the  storm  had  somewhat  subsided,  he  rose  to  reply,  and 
received  that  profound  attention  which  was  due  to  his  age,  ex 
perience,  and  position.  He  said,  if  it  had  been  a  petition  of 
slaves  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  he  should  have  at  least 
paused  before  he  brought  the  subject  before  the  House  in  any 
form.  However  sacred  he  might  hold  the  right  of  petition,  he 
would  still  exercise  a  discretionary  power  in  bringing  before 
the  House  petitions  which,  in  his  opinion,  ought  not  to  be  pre 
sented.  The  mere  circumstance,  however,  of  a  petition  being 
from  a  slave  would  not  prevent  him  from  presenting  it.  If  a 
horse  or  a  dog  had  the  power  of  speech,  or  of  writing,  and 
should  send  him  a  petition,  he  would  present  it  to  the  House. 

petition  was  a  prayer,  a  supplication  to  a  superior  being,  — 
that  which  is  offered  to  our  God.  He  declared  that  the  framers 
of  the  Constitution  would  have  repudiated  the  idea  that  they 
were  giving  the  people  the  right  of  petition.  "  That  right,"  he 
affirmed,  "  God  gave  to  the  whole  human  race  when  he  made 
man.  My  doctrine  is  that  the  right  of  petition  is  the  right 
of  prayer,  not  depending  on  the  condition  of  the  petitioner." 

Mr.  Adams  said  that  Mr.  Patton  made  no  objection  when  he 
presented  a  petition  from  women  of  infamous  character ;  but 
he  did  object  when  they  came  from  colored  people.  He  had 
presented  petitions  from  ladies  as  eminently  entitled  to  be 
called  such  as  any  aristocrats  in  the  land  ;  but  he  had  usually 
called  them  "  women,"  and  that,  said  he,  to  my  heart,  is  a 
dearer  appellation  than  ladies.  Mr.  Thompson  had  said  there 
was  such  an  institution  in  Washington  as  a  grand  jury,  and 
had  intimated  that  Mr.  Adams  might  be  indicted  for  stirring 
up  insurrection.  To  this  menace  Mr,  Adams  replied :  "  The 
only  answer  I  make  to  such  a  threat  from  that  gentleman  is  to 
invite  him,  when  he  returns  home  to  his  constituents,  to  study 
a  little  the  first  principles  of  liberty.  That  gentleman  appears 
lere  as  the  representative  of  slaveholders,  and  I  should  like 

be  informed  how  many  there  are  of  such  representatives  on 
his  floor  who  indorse  the  sentiment  involved  in  that  menace." 

These  pointed  and  telling  questions  brought  forth  such  an- 
rers  as  the  more  reflecting  Southern  minds  saw  to  be  neces- 


350        RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

sary  to  relieve  themselves  and  their  section  from  the  false  posi 
tion  in  which  Mr.  Thompson's  incautious  remarks  had  placed 
them.  Mr.  Underwood  of  Kentucky  promptly  replied  that  he 
did  not  indorse  it.  Mr.  Wise  asked  if  any  man  from  the 
South  did  indorse  it.  He  was  sure  he  did  not.  Mr.  Thomp 
son,  seeing  the  dilemma  in  which  he  had  placed  himself,  said 
he  referred  to  the  laws  of  South  Carolina,  by  which  a  member 
was  liable  to  indictment  who  should  present  such  a  petition. 

Mr.  Adams,  with  deep  earnestness  and  amid  great  sensation, 
exclaimed,  that,  if  that  was  the  law  of  South  Carolina,  and 
members  of  her  legislature  were  amenable  to  petit  and  grand 
juries  for  words  spoken  in  debate,  "  God  Almighty  receive  my 
thanks  that  I  am  not  a  citizen  of  that  State  !  "  He  closed  by 
an  appeal  to  the  House  and  to  the  nation,  affirming  that  it  was 
not  he,  but  those  who  objected  to  the  discharge  of  his  duty,  who 
were  answerable  for  the  consumption  of  time.  This  heroic 
speech  of  "the  old  man  eloquent"  produced  a  profound  im 
pression,  and  the  resolutions  of  censure  were  rejected  by  a 
large  majority ;  though  a  resolution,  introduced  by  Mr.  Taylor 
of  New  York,  that  slaves  do  not  possess  the  right  of  petition, 
secured  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  was  adopted  by  an 
almost  unanimous  vote,  only  eighteen  voting  against  it. 

While  Mr.  Adams  encountered  such  fierce  invective  and  op 
position  from  Southern  men  and  their  Northern  sympathizers, 
there  were  those  who  stood  by  him  and  gave  him  both  coun 
tenance  and  support.  Mr.  Lincoln,  from  his  own  State,  took 
his  place  by  his  side,  and  avowed  that  he  had  cheerfully  and 
willingly  presented  antislavery  memorials,  and  that  he  intended 
to  do  so.  Although  not  an  Abolitionist,  he  vindicated  the 
purity  and  philanthropic  spirit  of  petitioners  for  the  abolition 
of  slavery  and  the  slave-trade  at  the  capital.  Caleb  Gushing, 
from  the  same  State,  maintained  with  great  ability  that  the 
right  of  petition  was  not  a  right  derived  from  the  Constitution, 
but  a  pre-existing  right  of  man,  secured  by  a  direct  prohibition 
in  the  Constitution  to  pass  any  law  to  impair  or  abridge  it. 
Mr.  Evans  of  Maine  also  defended  Mr.  Adams,  and  vindicated 
the  right  of  petition. 

William   Slade  of   Vermont  had  been   a  member  of  the 


i 


RIGHT   OF   PETITION  DENIED.  351 

XXIYth  Congress,  and  had  stood  firmly  by  the  side  of  Mr. 
Adams  in  his  devoted  advocacy  of  the  right  of  petition.  Loath 
ing  slavery  and  the  slave-trade,  he  was  in  favor  of  their  sup 
pression  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  Detesting  the  arrogant 
assumption  of  their  champions,  he  was  for  freedom  of  speech 
and  action.  The  legislature  of  his  State  had  passed  resolutions 
in  favor  of  the  suppression  of  the  slave  traffic,  and  of  the  abo 
lition  of  slavery  in  the  national  capital.  In  presenting  them 
and  the  memorials  of  many  citizens  of  his  State,  he  moved 
their  reference  to  a  select  committee,  with  instructions  to  re 
port  a  bill  for  their  abolition  and  suppression.  Proceeding  to 
state  the  reasons  for  his  motion,  he  was  interrupted  by  Mr. 
Legar6  of  South  Carolina,  one  of  the  ablest,  fairest,  and  most 
learned  of  his  class.  He  urged  Mr.  Slade  to  ponder  well  his 
course  before  he  proceeded  further ;  and  he  warned  him  that 
when  the  question  was  forced  upon  the  people  of  the  South 
they  would  be  ready  to  take  up  the  gauntlet. 

Mr.  Slade,  unmindful  of  the  interruptions  and  warnings  of 
the  representative  of  South  Carolina,  continued  his  remarks. 
When  he  was  asked  by  Mr.  Dawson,  a  Whig  representative 
from  Georgia,  to  yield  the  floor  for  an  adjournment,  he  firmly 
declined.  Continuing  his  remarks,  he  was  called  to  order  by 
Mr.  Wise  for  reading  a  judicial  decision  of  one  of  the  Southern 
courts  defining  a  slave  to  be  a  chattel.  The  Speaker,  Mr.  Polk 
of  Tennessee,  always  a  willing  instrument  of  the  Slave  Power, 
decided  that  it  was  not  in  order  to  discuss  slavery  in  the  States. 
Mr.  Slade  denied  that  he  was  discussing  Slavery  in  the  South 
ern  States,  as  he  was  simply  quoting  a  judicial  decision  of  a 
Southern  court,  just  as  he  might  quote  a  legal  opinion  delivered 
in  England.  The  Speaker,  reminding  him  of  the  excitement 
pervading  the  House,  suggested  that  he  should  confine  him 
self  strictly  to  the  subject  of  his  motion. 

Quoting  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  bill  of 
rights  of  several  of  the  States,  he  was  again  called  to  order  by 
Mr.  Wise  for  reading  papers  without  leave  of  the  House.  Mr. 
Wise  declared  that  he  had  "  wantonly  discussed  the  abstract 
question  of  slavery  "  ;  that  he  was  "  examining  the  State  con 
stitutions,  to  show  that,  as  it  existed  in  the  States,  it  was  against 


352        RISE   AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

them  and  against  the  laws  of  God  and  man.  This  was  out  of 
order."  Mr.  Slade,  proceeding  to  read  the  memorial  of  Dr. 
Franklin  and  an  opinion  of  Mr.  Madison  on  slavery,  was  again 
called  to  order  by  Mr.  Griffin  of  South  Carolina.  The  Speaker 
decided  that  they  could  not  be  read  without  the  permission  of 
the  House.  Mr.  Slade  then  proposed  to  send  the  papers  to  the 
Clerk  to  be  read,  when  the  Speaker  decided  that  it  would  not 
be  in  order  for  the  Clerk  to  read  them. 

Mr.  Slade,  proceeding,  referred  to  the  feeling  in  Virginia  on 
the  subject  of  slavery  when  the  government  was  organized. 
But  he  was  interrupted  by  Mr.  Ehett  of  South  Carolina,  who 
impertinently  inquired  what  the  opinions  in  Virginia  fifty  years 
ago  had  to  do  with  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  Mr. 
Wise  rose  under  great  excitement.  He  said  that  Mr.  Slade 
had  "discussed  the  whole  abstract  question  of  slavery,  —  of 
slavery  in  Virginia,  of  slavery  in  my  own  district ;  and  I  now 
ask  all  my  colleagues  to  retire  with  me  from  this  hall."  Mr. 
Slade  reminded  the  Speaker  that  he  had  not  yielded  the  floor. 
Mr.  Halsey  of  Georgia  then  called  on  the  delegation  from  Geor 
gia  to  withdraw  with  him.  Amid  this  scene  of  excitement, 
noise,  and  confusion,  the  voice  of  Mr.  Rhett  was  heard  calling 
upon  the  entire  delegation  from  all  the  slaveholding  States  to 
retire  from  the  hall,  and  to  meet  in  the  room  of  the  Committee 
on  the  District  of  Columbia.  Mr.  McKay  of  North  Carolina,  a 
leading  member  of  the  Democratic  party,  objected  to  Mr. 
Slade's  proceeding  any  further,  and  demanded  the  enforcement 
of  the  rule  requiring  a  member,  when  called  to  order,  to  take 
his  seat ;  and,  if  decided  to  be  out  of  order,  requiring  leave  of 
the  House  before  speaking  again.  Mr.  Slade  asked  leave  to 
proceed.  Pending  the  question  of  granting  leave,  the  House, 
on  motion  of  Mr.  Rencher  of  North  Carolina,  adjourned  ;  sixty- 
three  members,  mostly  Northern  Whigs,  voting  against  the 
motion. 

On  the  announcement  of  the  adjournment,  Mr.  Campbell  of 
South  Carolina  said  he  had  "  been  appointed  as  one  of  the 
Southern  delegation  to  invite  gentlemen  representing  slave- 
holding  States  to  attend  a  meeting  now  being  held  in  the  room 
of  the  Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia."  At  this  meet- 


RIGHT   OF   PETITION  DENIED.  353 

ing  members  from  the  slaveholding  States  agreed  to  a  resolu 
tion  to  silence  debate  ;  and  it  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Mr. 
Patton  of  Virginia  to  be  offered  as  an  amendment  of  the  rules 
at  the  opening  of  the  House  the  next  day.  The  resolution  was 
submitted  by  Mr.  Patton  and  read;  and  the  House,  by  a 
vote  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  to  sixty,  suspended  the 
rules  for  its  reception.  Mr.  Patton,  the  organ  of  the  seceding 
slaveholding  members,  asserted  that  the  resolution  involved 
"  a  concession,  —  a  concession  which  we  make  for  the  sake  of 
peace,  harmony,  and  union."  He  then  moved  the  previous 
question  upon  the  adoption  of  this  resolution  :  "  That  all  peti 
tions,  memorials,  and  papers  touching  the  abolition  of  slavery, 
or  the  buying,  selling,  or  transferring  slaves,  in  any  State,  or 
District,  or  Territory  of  the  United  States,  be  laid  on  the  table 
without  being  debated,  printed,  read,  or  referred,  and  that  no 
action  be  taken  thereon." 

The  previous  question  being  sustained,  the  resolution  was 
adopted,  more  than  two  thirds  of  the  House  voting  for  it.  The 
Southern  members  of  both  parties  and  the  Northern  Demo 
crats  recorded  their  votes  for  it,  though  the  Whigs  of  the  free 
States  voted  against  it. 

Thus  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  in 
the  exercise  of  an  unquestionable  right,  silenced  by  trickery 
and  violence.  By  this  revolutionary  act  did  its  slaveholding 
members,  unmindful  of  their  oath  of  office,  secede  from  it,  go 
into  a  sectional  conclave,  and  there  concoct  a  resolution,  to  be 
offered  for  the  support  of  the  House,  as  a  condition  precedent 
of  their  return  to  the  performance  of  their  sworn  duties  ; 
thereby  abridging  and  practically  denying  the  sacred  right  of 
petition,  and  suppressing  the  freedom  of  debate.  They  were 
aided,  too,  in  passing  this  resolution,  by  more  than  fifty  of  the 
Northern  Democrats.  Mr.  Adams  thus  characterized  this 
action  amid  deafening  cries  of  "Order":  "I  consider  this 
resolution  a  violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
of  the  right  of  my  constituents  and  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States  to  petition,  and  of  every  right  to  freedom  of 
speech,  as  a  member  of  this  House." 

The  XXVth  Congress  was   still  more  subservient  to  the 

45 


354       RISE  AND  FALL  OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

demands  of  the  Slave  Power.  It  voted  not  only  to  silence  the 
voice  of  the  people,  but  its  own.  It  struck  down  the  sacred 
right  of  the  people  to  petition  for  the  redress  of  their  grievan 
ces,  by  clamor,  menace,  and  resolution,  destroyed  the  freedom 
of  debate,  and  hushed  the  voice  of  the  representatives  of  the 
people.  The  Democratic  party  had  elected  Mr.  Van  Buren 
President,  and  had  secured  a  decisive  majority  in  that  Con 
gress.  By  the  most  abject  surrender  to  the  demands  of  the 
slaveholding  interests  did  the  President  justify  the  appellation 
generally  applied  to  him  as  "  a  Northern  man  with  Southern 
principles  "  ;  and  his  administration,  thus  begun,  was  among 
the  most  unhesitating  in  its  subserviency  to  the  Slave  Power. 


CHAPTER    XXYI. 

ACTIVITY  OF  THE  ABOLITIONISTS.  —  ACTION   OF   NORTHERN  LEGIS 
LATURES. 

The  Abolitionists  hopeful.  —  Meeting  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society 
in  the  Capitol.  —  Mr.  Stanton's  Eesolutions.  —  Public  Sentiment.  —  Forma 
tion  of  the  Illinois  Antislavery  Society.  —  Black  Laws  of  Ohio.  —  Condition 
of  the  Colored  People  in  Ohio.  —  Hearing  before  a  Committee  of  the  Massa 
chusetts  Legislature.  —  Mr.  Stanton's  Speech.  —  Action  of  the  Legislature.  — 
Decision  of  Judge  Shaw.  —  James  C.  Alvord.  — Resolutions  against  Texas.  — 
Legislatures  of  Connecticut  and  Vermont. 

Two  features  of  the  early  stages  of  the  uprising  against 
slavery  were  peculiarly  striking  and  suggestive.  There  was 
the  manifest  failure  of  those  early  pioneers  to  comprehend  the 
magnitude  and  inveteracy  of  the  evil  to  be  removed,  or  the 
tremendous  grasp  in  which  it  held  the  nation  in  its  every 
department  of  individual  and  associated  life.  There  was, 
too,  an  enthusiastic  but  unwarranted  confidence  in  a  speedy 
triumph.  Evidences  abound.  They  are  seen  in  the  proceed 
ings  of  antislavery  conventions  and  anniversaries,  in  the  anti- 
slavery  reports,  speeches,  and  journals,  of  those  days.  Even 
Mr.  Garrison,  whose  abilities  and  opportunities  of  judging 
were  certainly  not  small,  shared  largely  in  these  illusions  of 
hope  and  in  this  evident  under-estimate  of  the  greatness  and 
severity  of  the  contest  on  which  they  had  entered.  Though  much 
be  conceded  to  the  charm  of  novelty,  the  enthusiasm  of  youth, 
and  the  pardonable  confidence  of  the  neophyte,  unhackneyed 
as  yet  and  without  the  lessons  gained  in  the  stern  school  of 
experience,  it  is  difficult  to  account  for  these  over-sanguine 
expressions.  Especially  does  this  appear  in  view  of  the  deter 
mined  opposition  they  were  obliged  to  encounter,  almost  al 
ways  and  everywhere,  in  their  attempts  to  reach  the  popular 
ear  and  heart.  Not  only  were  they  excluded,  as  they  com- 


356        RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

plainingly  asserted,  from  churches  and  halls,  but  they  were 
driven  by  rioters  from  their  own  quarters,  and  hardly  permit 
ted  to  walk  .the  streets  without  the  hootings  and  sometimes 
the  more  personal  and  physical  violence  of  the  mob.  Nor  was 
this  the  mere  temporary  ebullition  of  the  hour.  It  continued 
until  no  inconsiderable  number  of  those  early  and  sanguine 
men  and  women  felt  constrained  to  come  out  of  both  churches 
and  parties,  as  hopelessly  in  bondage  to  this  haughty  and  dom 
inating  power  of  the  land. 

Doubtless  it  was  well  that  such  was  the  fact.  Had  they 
fully  comprehended  the  desperate  nature  of  the  struggle, 
fathomed  the  depth  of  their  country's  degradation  and  peril, 
gauged  the  full  measure  of  its  apostasy  and  the  slow  progress 
of  truth,  had  they  known  the  extent  of  the  great  and  terrible 
wilderness  on  which  they  had  entered,  and  the  length  of  their 
journeyings  to  the  promised  land,  the  hearts  of  many  would 
have  sunk  within  them,  and  they  might  have  relinquished  the 
attempt  before  it  was  well  begun. 

During  the  years  of  1834  -  35  the  operations  of  the  New 
England  Antislavery  Society,  which  had,  owing  to  the  forma 
tion  of  the  American  Society,  taken  the  name  and  become  the 
Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society,  were  conducted  on  a  more 
extended  scale  than  ever.  It  employed  efficient  agents,  while 
several  other  gentlemen  of  capacity,  zeal,  and  eloquence  largely 
contributed  to  the  advancement  of  the  cause.  Its  fourth  an 
nual  meeting  was  held  in  January,  1836,  in  the  city  of  Boston. 
Its  committee  of  arrangements  had  been  refused  the  use  of  all 
the  churches  and  halls  large  enough  to  accommodate  its  mem 
bers  ;  and  they  were  compelled  to  hold  the  meeting  in  their 
little  room  in  Washington  Street,  used  for  ordinary  purposes, 
for  the  meetings  of  the  executive  committee,  and  for  other 
assemblages  during  the  year.  Earnest  and  radical  antislavery 
speeches  were  made  by  Professor  Charles  Follen,  William 
Goodell,  Rev.  Cyrus  P.  Grosvenor,  Rev.  Orange  Scott,  Henry 
C.  Wright,  and  others. 

Its  fifth  anniversary  was  held  in  January,  1837,  in  the  loft 
of  the  stable  attached  to  the  Maryborough  Hotel.  Its  report, 
which  was  very  elaborate,  was  read  by  Mr.  Garrison.  The 


ACTIVITY   OF   THE   ABOLITIONISTS.  357 

meeting  was  addressed  by  Amos  Dresser,  who  gave  a  narra 
tive  of  the  cruel  treatment  he  had  received  in  Tennessee,  the 
recital  of  which  excited  deep  and  tearful  emotion.  Rev. 
Samuel  J.  May  eloquently  referred  to  the  fact  that  the  So 
ciety  could  not  secure  a  comfortable  place  of  meeting  in  his 
native  city;  that  every  church  and  hall  had  been  closed 
against  them,  and  that  they  were  driven  into  a  stable.  The 
legislature  had  been  applied  to  for  the  use  of  the  hall  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  for  an  evening  meeting  of  the  So 
ciety  ;  and  its  application  had  been  successful,  the  members 
from  Boston,  however,  generally  voting  against  it.  Referring 
to  this  fact,  Henry  B.  Stanton  wittily  said :  "  When  Boston 
votes  we  go  into  a  stable,  but  when  the  State  votes  we  go  into 
the  State  House." 

On  the  evening  of  the  25th  of  January,  the  pioneer  anti- 
slavery  society,  as  its  friends  affectionately  styled  it,  assem 
bled,  for  the  first  time,  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives.  Rev.  Orange  Scott  was  the  first  speaker.  He 
maintained  that  the  sum  and  substance  of  antislavery  doc 
trines  are  that  "  slavery  is  sin  and  must  be  immediately  aban 
doned."  Mr.  Stanton  spoke  in  support  of  resolutions  in  favor 
of  the  immediate  abolition  of  slavery  and  of  the  slave-trade  in 
the  District  of  Columbia,  and  of  the  right  of  petition.  While 
he  was  speaking  an  effort  was  made  to  create  a  disturbance 
by  persons  near  the  entrance  of  the  hall.  But  Mr.  Stanton, 
after  a  moment's  pause,  proceeded  in  his  speech  with  great 
eloquence  and  power,  completely  subduing  the  mob  spirit  and 
enchaining  the  attention  of  the  audience.  The  reporter  failed 
in  his  task,  because,  as  he  said,  "  he  would  not  attempt  to 
report  a  whirlwind  or  a  thunder-storm."  Ellis  Gray  Loring 
made  a  learned  argument  in  support  of  a  resolution,  declar 
ing  that  allegiance  to  his  country,  to  liberty,  and  to  God  re 
quired  that  every  man  should  be  an  abolitionist  and  should 
openly  espouse  the  antislavery  cause. 

The  debate  on  granting  the  use  of  the  hall  to  the  society, 
in  which  several  members  participated,  and  in  which  Mr.  Rug- 
gles  of  Fall  River  spoke  with  commanding  eloquence  and 
power  for  the  right  of  free  discussion,  and  the  speeches  made 


358       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

during  the  evening,  exerted  a  potent  influence  on  the  members 
of  the  legislature,  the  effects  of  which  were  manifested  before 
the  close  of  the  session.  The  society  continued  its  meeting 
during  the  next  day,  and  speeches  breathing  the  spirit  of  self- 
consecration  and  devotion  to  the  cause  were  made.  It  was 
especially  manifested  in  the  speech  of  Rev.  Mr.  Root  of  Dover, 
New  Hampshire.  "  The  great  moral  war,"  he  said,  "  is  but 
begun.  The  collision  of  truth  with  error,  of  duty  with  expe 
diency,  will  produce  commotion ;  but  truth  and  duty  must  and 
will  prevail.  Should  my  name  reach  the  next  generation,  let 
it  be  found  in  connection  with  abolition.  I  would  sooner  be 
execrated  as  a  Tory  of  the  Revolution  than  be  known  here 
after  as  one  who  stood  aloof  from  the  movements  now  in  pro 
gress  for  laying  the  last  stone  of  the  yet  unfinished  Temple  of 
Liberty.  But  above  all,  when  I  am  summoned  to  judgment, 
let  me  then  be  found  to  have  been  the  unflinching  friend  of 
God's  poor." 

Mr.  May  commenced  with  great  plainness  of  speech  upon 
the  fact  that  in  the  city  of  Boston  the  cause  of  impartial  lib 
erty  was  shut  out  from  all  the  halls  and  churches  under  the 
control  of  its  citizens.  He  referred  to  the  fact  that  the  col 
ored  and  other  citizens  of  Massachusetts  suffered  serious 
abridgment  of  their  privileges,  that  slaveholders  might  not  be 
disturbed  in  their  unrighteousness.  He  maintained,  too,  that 
the  citizens  of  New  England  were  implicated  in  the  sin  of 
slavery,  and  were  forbidden  to  repent  and  do  works  meet  for 
repentance.  He  avowed  his  readiness  to  wear  the  chain  him 
self,  rather  than  remain  silent  in  view  of  the  great  wrongs 
man  was  inflicting  on  his  fellow. 

Mr.  Garrison,  referring  to  the  accusation  made  against  him 
of  using  harsh  language,  declared  that  he  was  not  eager  to 
repel  that  accusation,  for  he  could  not  suffer  himself  to  be 
turned  aside  from  the  warfare  against  merciless  oppressors 
to  discuss  the  proprieties  of  diction  with  captious  critics. 
"  Who,"  he  asked,  "  are  my  accusers  ?  The  entire  South, 
reeking  with  pollution  and  blood,  —  slaveholders,  slave-deal 
ers,  slave-drivers,  recreant  priests,  and  lynch  committees, 
Northern  apologists  for  crime,  and  terror-stricken  recreants 


ACTIVITY   OF   THE   ABOLITIONISTS.  359 

to  liberty,  —  all  charge  me  with  using  hard  language  !  Am  I 
to  give  heed  to  such  instructors,  or  aim  to  suit  their  tastes  ? 
While  millions  are  groaning  in  bondage,  and  women  are  sold 
by  the  pound  in  our  country,  it  is  solemn  trifling  to  think  of 
sitting  down  coolly  to  criticise  the  phraseology  of  those  who 
are  pleading  and  toiling  for  their  deliverance." 

Resolutions  were  introduced  by  Mr.  Stanton  censuring  the 
action  of  members  of  Congress  who  had  voted  to  deny  the 
right  of  petition  ;  applauding  John  Quincy  Adams  ;  calling 
upon  the  whole  people  of  the  Commonwealth  to  rally  to  the 
rescue  of  the  Constitution  and  to  the  cause  of  God's  perishing 
poor  ;  invoking  the  legislature  to  request  their  representatives 
to  vote  for  the  immediate  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  slave- 
trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia  ;  and  summoning  the  people 
to  vote  for  no  member  of  the  national  or  State  legislature  who 
is  not  in  favor  of  the  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press,  and 
of  the  right  of  petition.  He  declared  that  the  resolutions 
were  not  designed  to  have  a  partisan  bearing ;  but  that  they 
spoke  of  the  duties,  not  of  a  party,  but  of  all  parties  and 
creeds. 

Rev.  Robert  B.  Hall  approved  of  all  the  resolutions  but  the 
last.  That  he  opposed  because  he  deprecated  political  action, 
which  would,  he  thought,  excite  much  clamor  and  do  much 
harm.  Mr.  Garrison  expressed  much  surprise  at  such  senti 
ments  from  one  of  the  original  signers  of  the  declaration 
adopted  by  the  convention  at  Philadelphia,  in  which  it  was 
expressly  proclaimed  that  Abolitionists  were  to  use  "  moral 
and  political  action  "  for  the  removal  of  slavery.  He  avowed 
that  Abolitionists  ought  not  to  vote  for  any  man  who  would 
not  maintain  the  right  of  petition  and  vote  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery  when  Congress  had  the  power.  Abolitionists,  he  main 
tained,  had  nothing  to  do  with  politics,  as  understood  among 
politicians  and  political  parties  of  the  day  ;  but  "  they  have 
something  to  do  with  politics  so  far  as  relates  to  this  question." 

Mr.  Stanton  proclaimed  that  the  motto  of  Abolitionists  is : 
"  Duty  is  ours,  —  consequences  are  God's."  Political  action, 
he  contended,  was  then  bad,  and  would  be,  though  Abolition 
ists  should  remain  silent.  "  Shall  the  people,"  he  asked,  "  so 


360        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

act  as  to  renovate  the  politics  of  this  country,  and  thus  save 
our  liberties  ;  or  shall  they  slumber  on  until  they  have  passed 
away  forever  ?  "  The  resolutions  were  unanimously  passed,  with 
the  exception  of  the  last,  and  that  passed  with  only  the  dis 
senting  vote  of  Mr.  Hall.  That  vote  fully  and  unreservedly 
committed  the  members  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery  So 
ciety  to  political  action  for  the  removal  of  slavery  where  Con 
gress  possessed  the  power  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  is  very  significant,  especially  as  viewed  in  con 
nection  with  the  opposite  non-voting  policy  so  loudly  and  so 
persistently  proclaimed  afterward  by  the  same  individuals. 

Nor  were  there  wanting  similar  demonstrations  in  the  other 
New  England  States,  though  in  none  were  they  so  vigorous 
and  well  sustained.  Still  in  all  these  were  societies  and  active 
efforts  more  or  less  effective  ;  and  this  was  specially  true  of 
New  York.  The  city  was  the  headquarters  not  only  of  its 
own,  but  of  the  national  society.  In  the  central  and  western 
portions  of  the  State,  more  largely  settled  from  New  England, 
there  was  much  activity.  In  New  Jersey  there  was  little 
attempted  and  little  accomplished.  In  Pennsylvania  there 
had  been  a  sad  reaction  after  the  days  when  the  old  Pennsyl 
vania  Abolition  Society  was  a  power  there  and  did  so  much  to 
keep  that  Commonwealth  moored  to  the  principles  of  its  great 
founder  and  to  those  of  the  Revolution.  But  its  contiguity  to 
the  slave  States,  and  its  large  German  element,  mainly  intent 
on  material  good,  gave  little  encouragement  or  success  to  anti- 
slavery  efforts,  though  there,  as  elsewhere,  they  were  made. 

Indeed,  in  consequence  of  antislavery  agitation,  both  within 
and  without  the  State,  a  State  convention  was  called,  mainly 
by  leaders  of  the  Democratic  party,  professedly,  to  strengthen 
the  bonds  of  the  Union,  though  really  to  discountenance 
and  put  down  such  agitation.  It  failed,  in  the  language  of 
Judge  Woodward,  who  was  a  member  and  in  sympathy  with 
its  object,  because  Thaddeus  Stevens,  then  in  the  zenith  of  his 
powers  and  popularity,  "  ridiculed  the  convention  into  nothing 
ness."  He  was  not  equally  successful,  however,  in  the  con 
vention  for  revising  the  constitution  ;  for,  with  all  his  powers, 
he  could  not  prevent  that  body  from  inserting  the  word 


ACTIVITY  OF   THE  ABOLITIONISTS.  361 

"  white  "  into  the  suffrage  clause  of  that  instrument.  The 
ignominy  and  partisan  profligacy  of  that  action  were  evinced 
by  the  unblushing  request,  which  seems  to  have  been  success 
ful,  and  which  was  set  forth  in  a  memorial  from  Bucks  County, 
in  which  it  was  urged,  as  a  reason  why  the  word  "  white  " 
should  be  inserted,  that  negro  votes  sometimes  controlled  elec 
tions  ;  "  and  that  at  the  last  election  one  member  of  the  assem 
bly,  the  county  commissioner,  and  auditor  were  returned  as 
elected  by  the  force  of  the  votes  of  blacks,  when  the  oppo 
nents  would  have  been  elected  except  for  the  negro  suffrage" 

While  Eastern  Abolitionists  were  thus  actively  engaged  in 
their  work,  and  meeting  its  peculiar  exigencies,  their  brethren 
at  the  West  were  not  idle.  Nor  were  they  without  their  share 
of  vicissitudes,  substantially  like  those  in  the  New  England 
and  the  Middle  States,  though  affected  by  the  composite  char 
acter  of  the  population,  even  then,  of  that  section  of  the  coun 
try.  The  fact,  too,  that  the  defenders  and  abettors  of  slavery 
there,  as  elsewhere,  made  demands  against  which  many  who 
were  not  Abolitionists  revolted,  like  John  Quincy  Adams,  in 
behalf  of  the  right  of  petition,  and  Mr.  Lovejoy  for  the  free 
dom  of  the  press,  exerted  its  influence.  Concerning  Illinois, 
Dr.  Edward  Beecher  says  that  in  it  "  there  was  an  original 
leaven  of  antislavery  principles  in  its  earliest  settlement,  and 
preceding  the  discussions  at  the  East ;  and  the  influence  of 
this,  added  to  that  of  papers  from  the  East,  awakened  an  ex 
tensive  interest  in  the  subject  over  the  whole  State."  But, 
while  there  might  have  been  this  "  leaven  of  antislavery,"  the 
prevailing  tone  of  thought  and  feeling,  as  the  great'body  of  its 
early  settlers  were  from  slaveholding  States,  was  the  reverse. 
Accordingly  it  was  seen  in  the  ejection  of  Mr.  Lovejoy's  press 
from  St.  Louis,  that,  when  the  lines  were  drawn,  the  vast  pre 
ponderance  of  the  popular  sentiment  and  influence  was  on  the 
side  of  the  oppressor. 

These  facts,  more  clearly  developed  by  the  Alton  riots  and 
the  murder  of  Lovejoy  than  by  any  previous  demonstration, 
decided  many  minds,  before  hesitating,  that  the  time  had 
come  for  concerted  action.  Accordingly,  when  the  conven 
tion  of  "the  friends  of  the  slave  and  of  free  discussion," 

46 


362       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

called  to  meet  at  Upper  Alton,  Illinois,  on  the  26th  of  October, 
1837,  was  broken  up  by  the  intrusion  of  proslavery  men,  who 
took  the  organization  of  the  meeting  into  their  own  hands, 
adopted  proslavery  resolutions,  and  then  dissolved  the  meeting, 
the  supporters  of  law  and  order,  whatever  their  views  upon 
slavery  had  hitherto  been,  saw,  in  the  words  of  Dr.  Beecher, 
that  "  some  organized,  systematic  effort  was  absolutely  neces 
sary  to  save  our  own  liberties  from  the  ruthless  hands  of  un 
principled  men." 

A  new  call  was  issued,  and  two  days  later  the  convention 
met  and  formed  the  "Illinois  State  Antislavery  Society." 
Having  perfected  their  organization,  adopted  a  constitution, 
and  chosen  their  officers,  Elihu  Wolcott  being  president  and  E. 
P.  Lovejoy  secretary  and  chairman  of  the  executive  commit 
tee,  they  discussed  and  adopted  a  series  of  resolutions,  at  once 
comprehensive  and  thorough,  and  based  upon  the  great  princi 
ples  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  Word  of  God. 
Among  the  resolutions  was  one  declaring  that  "  the  cause  of 
human  rights,  the  liberty  of  speech  and  of  the  press,  impera 
tively  demand  that  the  press  of  the  i  Alton  Observer '  be  re 
established  at  Alton,  with  its  present  editor  "  ;  and  pledging 
its  members  with  the  aid  of  Alton  friends  and  "  by  the  help  of 
Almighty  God,"  to  take  measures  for  its  re-establishment.  A 
preamble,  couched  in  language  of  singular  solemnity  and  force, 
prefixed  to  the  constitution,  and  also  a  declaration  of  senti 
ments,  reported  by  Dr.  Beecher,  were  adopted.  Fifty-five  sig 
natures  were  appended  to  the  constitution. 

A  committee,  consisting  of  Wolcott,  Beecher,  and  Carter, 
was  appointed  to  issue  an  "  address  to  the  citizens  of  the  State 
on  the  subject  of  slavery,  freedom  of  speech,  of  the  press,"  etc. 
That  also  was  a  paper  of  singular  ability  and  eloquence,  placing 
the  cause  on  the  high  ground  of  Christian  principle,  and  enun 
ciating  with  great  clearness  and  force  the  primal  truths  of 
human  rights  and  the  paramount  claims  of  God's  Holy  Word. 
But  the  strong  Southern  element  which  entered  so  largely  into 
the  population  of  Illinois  prevented  any  very  general  adoption 
of  such  sentiments,  however  scriptural  and  republican  in  spirit 
and  purpose.  There  were,  indeed,  ever  faithful  men  and 


ACTIVITY   OF   THE   ABOLITIONISTS.  363 

women,  churches  and  communities  ;  but  the  great  body  joined 
in  the  general  apostasy,  consenting  to,  if  not  defending,  the 
giant  wrong. 

Ohio  was  settled,  especially  its  eastern  and  northern  por 
tions,  by  a  different  class  of  citizens.  There  the  New  England 
element  was  strong ;  and,  being  removed  from  the  corrupting 
influences  of  cities  and  of  commercial  and  manufacturing  in 
terests,  society,  at  least  in  many  localities,  did  not  deteriorate 
as  rapidly  and  fatally  as  did  that  which  was  left  behind.  There 
were  many  strong  and  earnest  men  in  the  abolition  ranks,  and 
many  active  antislavery  associations ;  though  the  southern  por 
tion  of  the  State,  like  Indiana  and  Illinois,  was  strongly  tinctured 
with  proslavery  sentiments,  that  had  secured  legislation  and 
laws  which  they  inspired  and  which  were  enacted  at  their 
behests.  Its  State  Society,  of  which  Leicester  King,  some 
years  afterward  nominated  as  a  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presi 
dency  by  the  Liberty  party,  was  president,  held  a  convention 
in  April,  1835,  continuing  three  days.  At  this  convention,  in 
addition  to  a  consideration  of  the  general  subject,  particular 
attention  was  paid  to  the  condition  of  the  colored  people  in 
the  State,  as  also  to  the  inhuman  and  barbarous  laws  which 
disgraced  its  statute-books,  and  which  were  only  too  faithfully 
executed  by  its  inhabitants,  especially  by  those  residing  in  and 
near  Cincinnati  and  on  the  borders  of  the  Ohio  River. 

Indeed,  a  prominent  feature  of  the  meeting  was  the  reading 
and  discussion  of  two  very  able  and  exhaustive  reports  from 
committees  appointed  to  consider  "  the  condition  of  people  of 
color,"  and  the  "  laws  of  Ohio  "  concerning  them.  These 
laws  forbade  the  entrance  into  the  State  of  negroes  and  mulat- 
toes  without  giving  two  freehold  sureties  to  the  amount  of  five 
hundred  dollars  for  their  good  behavior  and  for  their  support 
if  they  should  become  a  public  charge.  The  penalty  for  not 
giving  such  sureties  was  "to  be  removed  in  the  same  manner 
as  is  required  in  the  case  of  paupers."  By  another  section  it 
was  enacted  that  if  "  any  person  being  a  resident  of  this  State 
shall  employ,  harbor,  or  conceal  any  such  negro,"  he  shall 
pay  a  sum  not  exceeding  one  hundred  dollars,  and  be  liable 
for  his  support  if  he  become  a  public  charge.  By  another 


364       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

statute  it  was  enacted  that  no  black  or  mulatto  person  should 
give  evidence  in  court  in  a  controversy  or  case  in  which  a 
white  person  was  involved. 

It  was  easy,  of  course,  for  the  committee  to  point  out  not 
only  the  inhumanity  and  wickedness  of  such  legislation,  but 
its  unconstitutionality,  —  or,  at  least,  its  incompatibility  with 
the  constitution  of  the  State,  which  declares  "  that  ALL  are 
born  free  and.  independent,  and  have  certain  natural  and 
inalienable  rights."  Nor  was  it  any  less  easy  to  point  out  the 
evil  workings  of  such  statutes  on  the  people  thus  hampered 
and  held  in  check  and  constraint  by  them.  "  Few  amongst 
the  w.Mtes,"  they  say, "  would  be  able  to  obtain  sureties  on  such 
condit:  tfis  ;  and  much  less  blacks,  who  are  strangers  and  pen 
niless,  and  against  whose  race  there  exists  a  general  preju 
dice."  As  if  to  make  their  condition  insupportable,  all  per 
sons  were  forbid  hiring  or  employing  them.  And  if,  in  spite 
of  all  such  cruel  and  unjust  disabilities,  any  should  succeed  in 
life,  and  amass  wealth,  the  section  confronted  them,  forbidding 
their  evidence  in  court  on  any  subject  in  which  a  white  man 
is  involved.  It  was,  then,  but  a  legitimate  inference  when  the 
committee  declared  that  the  "  influence  of  such  laws  could 
not  be  otherwise  than  destructive  to  their  moral  and  intellec 
tual  character  and  their  pecuniary  interests.  Mental  debase 
ment,  moral  degradation,  self-disrespect,  unyielding  prejudice 
on  the  part  of  the  whites,  and  the  most  distressing  poverty, 
are  the  natural  and  necessary  consequences  of  their  perni 
cious,  unjust,  and  impolitic  laws." 

Nor  was  it  strange  that  the  committee  on  the  condition  of 
the  colored  people  "  was  obliged  to  report  that  of  the  estimat 
ed  seven  thousand  and  five  hundred  in  the  State,  as  a  class, 
we  find  them  ignorant,  many  of  them  intemperate  and  vicious," 
intemperance,  ignorance,  and  lewdness  "  being  their  beset 
ting  vices ;  that,  instead  of  seeking  to  gain  freeholds,  and 
depending  upon  farming  for  subsistence,  they  congregate  in 
towns,  and  become  day  laborers,  barbers,  and  menial  ser 
vants."  There  were,  however,  redeeming  facts,  and  satisfac 
tory  mention  was  made  of  "  a  settlement  in  Stark  County, 
where  there  were  three  hundred  people,  mostly  farmers,"  with 


ACTIVITY   OF   THE   ABOLITIONISTS.  365 

a  meeting-house  and  school-house,  the  whole  population,  with 
few  exceptions,  abstaining  from  intoxicating  drinks. 

A  more  specific  inquiry  was  made  in  the  spring  of  1835,  by 
the  Antislavery  Society  of  Lane  Seminary,  into  the  condition 
of  the  twenty-five  hundred  colored  people  of  Cincinnati. 
From  its  report  it  appears  that,  as  far  back  as  1829,  a  sys 
tematic  effort  was  made  by  its  citizens  to  aid  in  the  removal 
of  the  free  people  of  color  from  the  United  States.  This 
movement  not  only  excited  the  passions  and  prejudices  of  the 
lower  stratum  of  society,  but  inspired  the  action  of  the  com 
manding  classes  and  of  the  authorities.  The  trustees  of  the 
township  issued  a  proclamation  that  any  colored  man  who  did 
not  fulfil  the  requirements  of  the  law  should  leave  the  city. 
But,  as  that  was  simply  impossible,  only  a  small  portion  could 
or  did  leave.  The  mob  then  attempted  to  expel  them  by 
force  ;  and  for  three  days  riot  ran  wild  in  the  city.  The  col 
ored  people,  appealing  in  vain  to  the  city  authorities,  barri 
caded  their  houses,  and  thus  alone  the  fury  of  the  rioters  was 
resisted.  Thus  hampered  and  oppressed  in  Ohio  they  sent  a 
deputation  to  Canada,  to  find  a  place  of  refuge  under  a  mon 
archy.  The  reply  of  the  governor  was  as  reassuring  to  them 
as  it  was  severe  and  damaging  to  the  recreant  citizens  of  the 
Union.  "  Tell  the  republicans,"  he  said,  "  on  your  side  of  the 
line,  that  we  royalists  do  not  know  men  by  their  color.  Should 
you  come  to  us,  you  will  be  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  of  the 
rest  of  her  Majesty's  subjects."  In  consequence  of  this  gra 
cious  permission  large  numbers  emigrated;  and,  in  a  few 
years,  more  than  a  thousand  found  a  home  in  what  was  called 
Wilberforce  Settlement. 

Those  who  remained,  however,  suffered  every  indignity  and 
injustice.  Public  schools  and  mechanical  associations  were 
closed  against  them,  and  the  most  ordinary  labor  was  refused 
them,  —  a  clergyman,  in  one  instance,  dismissing  a  member 
of  his  church  from  his  employment  because  it  was  against  the 
law  to  employ  him.  The  poor  man,  spending  many  days  in 
the  unavailing  search  for  employment,  and  returning  to  the 
minister  for  advice,  received  the  disheartening  reply:  "  I  can 
not  help  you  ;  you  must  go  to  Liberia."  Thus  did  the  spirit 


366        RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

of  slavery  everywhere  reveal  itself  to  be  the  same  heartless 
and  fiendish  element,  disturbing  alike  the  normal  condition  of 
society  and  that  of  the  •  individuals  of  which  that  society  was 
composed.  Men  under  its  influence  lost  much  of  their  man 
hood,  and  communities  were  made  willing  to  exhibit  the  most 
revolting  features  of  barbarism  itself. 

The  high-handed  measures  of  Congress,  in  its  denial  of  the 
right  of  petition  and  freedom  of  speech,  caused  much  excite 
ment  and  indignation  in  the  free  States.  The  antislavery  men 
of  Massachusetts,  sharing  largely  in  these  feelings,  were  among 
the  first  to  give  expression  to  this  sense  of  wrong,  as  they 
were  firm  in  their  purpose  to  resist  these  encroachments, 
and  to  secure,  if  possible,  a  reversal  of  such  hostile  legisla 
tion.  Consequently,  during  the  session  of  the  legislature  in 
1837,  a  large  number  of  petitions  were  presented,  calling  upon 
that  body  "  to  protest  without  delay,  in  the  name  of  the  people 
of  this  Commonwealth,"  against  the  rule  of  Congress  which 
laid  upon  the  table  all  memorials  and  other  papers  concern 
ing  slavery,  without  being  printed,  read,  or  referred.  These 
memorials  were  referred  to  an  able  committee  of  one  from 
each  county,  of  which  Artemas  Lee  of  Templeton,  Worcester 
County,  was  chairman.  The  committee  granted  a  full,  fair, 
and  courteous  hearing  to  the  friends  and  representatives  of  the 
memorialists,  —  a  favor  made  more  noticeable  ancl  grateful  to 
them  by  its  striking  contrast  with  the  insolent  and  supercil 
ious  course  of  Mr.  Lunt,  chairman  of  a  similar  committee  of 
the  previous  legislature. 

Henry  B.  Stanton  and  George  S.  Hillard  appeared  in  be 
half  of  the  petitioners,  and  urged  their  claims  with  ability 
and  eloquence.  Mr.  Hillard's  speech  was  able  and  scholarly, 
exciting  in  the  friends  of  freedom  hopes  of  future  service 
which  his  subsequent  career  did  not  justify.  It  was  eclipsed, 
however,  by  the  remarkable  effort  of  his  colleague.  Mr.  Stan- 
ton's  argument  on  that  occasion  was  regarded,  by  those  whose 
good  fortune  it  was  to  hear  it,  as  one  of  those  rare  exhibitions 
of  eloquence  which  now  and  then  burst  upon  a  delighted  and 
enraptured  auditory.  It  was  a  kind  of  epoch  in  one's  life- 


ACTION   OF  NORTHERN   LEGISLATURES.  367 

time,  to  be  remembered,  but  seldom  repeated  or  paralleled.  It 
wrought  its  effects  upon  the  audience,  however,  perhaps  more 
by  its  gorgeous  diction,  vivid  coloring,  and  magnetic  power, 
as  the  speaker  described  the  ideal  possibilities  of  some  coming 
stage  of  human  progress,  than  by  the  vigor  of  its  reasoning, 
or  its  special  adaptedness  to  the  state  of  public  feeling  and 
sentiment  as  then  existing.  Its  effects  upon  the  audience,  as 
described  by  those  who  heard  it,  were  almost  magical.  It  was 
stereotyped,  and  two  hundred  thousand  copies  were  circulated. 
Mr.  Garrison  thus  refers  to  it  in  his  report :  "  The  occasion 
was  one  of  great  moral  sublimity.  Mr.  Stanton,  though  labor 
ing  under  physical  indisposition,  was  happily  enabled  not 
only  to  meet,  but  even  to  transcend,  the  high  expectation  of 
the  friends  of  liberty.  His  words  became  living  coals,  and 
his  eloquence  bore  all  things  onward  like  an  overflowing 
stream." 

"  The  effects  of  antislavery  agitation,"  Mr.  Stanton  said, 
"  are  not  hemmed  in  by  State  lines,  nor  circumscribed  by  local 
boundaries.  They  are  moral  in  their  nature ;  obey  no  laws 
but  those  of  the  human  mind  ;  owe  allegiance  to  no  constitu 
tion  but  that  of  the  immortal  soul.  Impalpable,  but  real,  the 
truths  we  proclaim  overleap  all  geographical  divisions,  and  lay 
their  strong  grasp  upon  the  conscience.  Moral  light,  diffused 
at  the  North,  is  like  the  Aurora  Borealis  ;  it  will  travel  onward 
to  the  South.  The  slaveholder  may  intrench  himself  behind 
bristling  bayonets,  but  the  truth,  armed  with  the  omnipotence 
of  its  Author,  breaks  through  the  serried  legions.  At  Mason 
and  Dixon's  line  he  may  pile  his  prohibitory  statutes  to  the 
clouds  as  his  wall  of  defence  ;  but  truth,  like  light,  is  elastic 
and  impressible,  and,  mounting  upward,  will  overleap  the  sum 
mit  and  penetrate  his  concealment.  Yes,  sir,  if  the  Union  were 
rent  into  ten  thousand  fragments,  yet,  if  on  any  fragment  there 
was  a  slaveholder,  antislavery  agitation  would  search  him  out, 
and  scatter  upon  his  naked  heart  the  living  coals  of  truth. 
God  has  written  the  verity  of  our  principles  on  the  inside  of 
every  oppressor  in  the  land.  He  can  destroy  the  record  only 
with  his  nature.  And  if  the  American  slaveholder,  returning 
wearied  with  the  destruction  of  every  antislavery  pamphlet 


368        EISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN   AMERICA. 

and  press  and  society  and  man  in  the  nation,  should  seek 
repose  in  his  chamber,  these  words,  written  with  the  finger  of 
God,  would  flame  out  from  its  walls  in  letters  of  blinding 
intensity  :  '  Woe  unto  him  that  buildeth  his  house  by  unright 
eousness,  and  his  chambers  by  wrong  ;  that  useth  his  neigh 
bor's  service  without  wages,  and  giveth  him  not  for  his  work!" 

The  buoyant  hopes  thus  eloquently  portrayed  were,  however, 
hardly  fulfilled.  The  history  of  the  struggle,  then  commen 
cing  and  now  complete,  did  not  realize  the  bright  anticipations 
so  brilliantly  sketched  by  the  fervid  orator  of  that  occasion. 
These  words  were  spoken  in  1837 ;  what  did  twenty  years' 
fighting  reveal  ?  The  nation  rocked  from  centre  to  circumfer 
ence,  and  on  the  eve  of  rebellion  and  disruption,  not  upon  the 
question  whether  slavery  should  be  abolished  at  the  South,  but 
whether  it  should  not  be  extended  to  the  North.  In  the  mean 
time  Texas  had  been  annexed  ;  the  Mexican  War  had  been 
fought ;  the  Missouri  Compromise  had  been  abrogated  ;  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law  had  been  enacted  ;  the  7th  of  March 
Speech  had  been  spoken,  and  Mr.  Webster  had  been  thanked 
by  eight  hundred  of  the  prominent  citizens  of  Massachusetts, 
including  clergymen,  president  and  professors  of  its  leading 
college  and  theological  seminary,  for  "  recalling  them  to  their 
duties  under  the  Constitution."  Four  years  more  revealed 
the  nation  in  the  agonies  of  civil  war,  the  South  almost  a  unit 
in  the  strife,  at  best  but  a  lean  minority  of  its  ministers  and 
churches  protesting  against  the  treason  or  condemning  its  vil- 
lanous  cause. 

Where  were  then  the  truths  overleaping  "  all  geographical 
divisions,"  and  laying  their  "  strong  grasp  upon  the  con 
science  "?  Where  was  that  moral  light,  diffused  like  the 
Aurora  Borealis  through  the  North,  and  travelling  onward  to 
the  South,  penetrating  the  concealment  of  the  slaveholder, 
searching  him  out,  and  scattering  "  on  his  naked  heart  the 
coals  of  living  truth  "  ? 

"  Alas  !   Leviathan  is  not  so  tamed." 

Something  more  is  wanting  than  moral  light  or  the  living 
coals  of  truth.  There  must  be  a  "  living  "  conscience  and  a 


ACTION  OF  NORTHERN  LEGISLATURES.  369 

loyal  heart.  They  were  wanting,  and  so  were  the  hoped-for 
and  promised  results.  A  slaveholding  government,  instead 
of  relaxing  its  grasp,  strengthened  itself  in  the  high  places  of 
power,  to  be  dislodged  only  by  divisions  in  its  own  ranks,  and 
not  by  the  greater  strength  of  the  friends  of  freedom  ;  instead 
of  contracting  the  area  of  slavery,  enlarging  it ;  instead  of  re 
garding  it,  with  the  fathers,  exceptional  and  sectional,  deter 
mining  to  make  it  national  and  supreme.  And  had  there  been 
only  moral  agencies,  such  would  have  been  the  result.  It  was 
material,  not  moral  force,  the  sword  of  steel  and  not  the  sword 
of  truth,  that  broke  the  power  of  the  master  and  struck  his 
fetters  from  the  bondman.  It  was  God  who,  amid  and  by  the 
fires  and  convulsions  of  rebellion  and  civil  war,  undid  the 
heavy  burdens  and  let  the  oppressed  go  free.  The  moral  forces 
then  invoked  and  employed  were,  doubtless,  a  part  of  the  pre 
determined  plan,  and  had  their  place  among  the  measures 
that  were  needed  for  the  result  to  be  secured.  But  the  mode 
finally  adopted  was  so  unlike  anything  planned  for  or  anticipat 
ed  that  the  wisest  and  most  earnest  Abolitionist  will  be  modest 
in  his  claims,  and  ascribe  the  victory  to  God,  rather  than  to 
man,  —  to  Him  whose  prerogative  it  is  to  bring  good  out  of 
evil,  and  to  make  even  the  wrath  of  man  praise  Him. 

Mr.  Stanton  thus  expressed  the  unyielding  purpose  of  those 
for  whom  he  spoke :  "  Undeterred  by  official  proscription  or 
private  denunciation,  by  prosecution  at  common  law  or  perse 
cutions  without  law,  by  legislative  enactments  or  ecclesiastical 
anathemas,  the  friends  of  the  slave,  guided  by  the  wisdom, 
cheered  by  the  favor,  and  protected  by  the  power  of  God,  will 
prosecute  their  work.  And  that  man  or  that  party  who  shall 
attempt  to  arrest  this  cause  in  its  onward  progress  will  be 
borne  down  by  the  advancing  host."  It  was  to  this  vigorous 
protest  and  promised  persistence  of  the  antislavery  men  of 
those  days  that  was  due  the  manly  response  of  the  Massachu 
setts  legislature  to  the  prayer  of  the  memorialists.  A  favora 
ble  report  was  returned,  declaring  that  "  the  act  of  Congress, 
in  refusing  to  refer  and  consider  the  petitions  of  the  people  on 
the  subject  of  slavery,  was  a  virtual  denial  of  the  right  of  peti 
tion  itself,"  and  "  at  variance  with  the  spirit  and  intent  of  the 

47 


370       EISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

Constitution,  and  injurious  to  the  cause  of  freedom  and  free 
institutions."  The  action  of  the  senators  and  representatives 
from  Massachusetts  was  applauded,  and  the  declaration  made 
that  "  Congress,  having  exclusive  legislation  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  possesses  the  right  to  abolish  slavery  in  said  Dis 
trict,  and  that  its  exercise  should  only  be  restrained  by  a  re 
gard  for  the  public  good."  After  an  earnest  and  animated 
debate,  these  resolutions  were  sustained  in  the  House  by  an 
almost  unanimous  vote,  only  sixteen  members  voting  in  the 
negative. 

The  Senate,  under  the  lead  of  Charles  Allen,  voted  unani 
mously  to  amend  the  resolution  asserting  the  power  of  Con 
gress  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  so  as  to 
affirm  "  that  the  early  exercise  of  such  right  is  demanded  by 
the  united  sentiment  of  the  civilized  world,  by  the  principles 
of  the  Revolution  and  humanity."  An  additional  resolution 
was  adopted,  with  only  one  dissenting  voice,  in  favor  of  cir 
cumscribing  slavery  within  the  limits  of  the  States  where  it 
had  already  been  established,  and  opposing  the  admission  of 
any  new  State  with  a  constitution  establishing  or  admitting  it. 
The  Senate  finally  receded  from  its  action  ;  not  from  any  dis 
position  to  retreat  from  the  principles  it  had  avowed,  but  for 
the  purpose  of  preserving  more  unity  of  action  with  the  House 
of  Representatives. 

The  legislature  of  Vermont,  too,  resolved,  and  sent  its  reso 
lutions  to  each  of  the  States,  that  neither  Congress  nor  the 
State  governments  have  any  constitutional  power  to  abridge 
the  free  expression  of  opinions,  or  their  transmission  through 
the  medium  of  the  public  mails ;  and  that  Congress  possesses 
the  power  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  This 
action  of  the  legislatures  of  Vermont  and  Massachusetts  indi 
cated  an  advance  in  antislavery  sentiment,  cheering  its  friends, 
exasperating  its  foes,  and  stimulating  both  alike  to  further  en 
deavors  to  promote  their  conflicting  purposes  and  plans. 

Other  facts  cheered  and  encouraged  the  friends  of  the  slave. 
In  the  month  of  August,  1836,  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  of 
Massachusetts  unanimously  decided,  in  the  case  of  the  slave- 
child  Med,  brought  from  New  Orleans  by  Mrs.  Slater,  who  came 


ACTION   OF  NORTHERN  LEGISLATURES.  371 

to  reside  with  her  father,  Thomas  Aves  of  Boston,  that  "  an 
owner  of  a  slave  in  another  State,  where  slavery  is  warranted 
by  law,  voluntarily  bringing  such  slave  into  this  State,  has  no 
authority  to  retain  him  against  his  will,  or  to  carry  him  out  of 
the  State  against  his  consent,  for  the  purpose  of  being  held  in 
slavery."  This  important  opinion  was  delivered  by  Chief  Jus' 
tice  Shaw.  The  suit  had  been  prosecuted  with  unfaltering 
zeal  by  the  Boston  Female  Antislavery  Society.  Samuel  E. 
Sewall  and  Ellis  Gray  Loring,  assisted  by  Rufus  Choate,  con 
ducted  the  case  for  the  Commonwealth.  The  argument  of 
Mr.  Loring  was  pronounced  a  masterly  and  exhaustive  effort, 
worthy  of  the  cause  he  advocated  and  the  great  tribunal  before 
which  it  was  delivered. 

This  decision  was  followed  by  another,  hardly  less  important. 
On  the  20th  of  January,  1837,  the  judiciary  committee  of  the 
Massachusetts  House  of  Representatives  was  directed  to  in 
quire  into  the  expediency  of  providing  some  process  by  which 
one  under  personal  restraint  may  try  his  right  to  liberty  before 
a  jury.  The  chairman  of  the  committee,  James  C.  Alvord  of 
Greenfield,  a  young  and  able  lawyer  and  rising  statesman,  of 
whom  high  hopes  were  entertained,  made  an  elaborate  report, 
in  whi<5h  the  sacred  right  of  trial  by  jury  was  vindicated.  An 
act  was  reported  providing  that  "  if  any  person  is  imprisoned, 
restrained  of  his  liberty,  or  held  in  duress,  unless  it  be  in  the 
custody  of  some  public  officer  of  the  law,  by  force  of  a  lawful 
warrant  or  other  process,  civil  or  criminal,  issued  by  a  court 
of  competent  jurisdiction,  he  shall  be  entitled,  as  of  right,  to 
a  writ  of  personal  replevin,  and  to  be  thereby  in  the  manner 
specified  in  the  act."  The  legislature,  with  entire  unanimity, 
gave  its  sanction  to  this  important  bill. 

The  sixth  anniversary  meeting  of  the  Massachusetts  Anti- 
slavery  Society  was  held  at  Boston  in  January,  1838.  On  its 
application,  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives  was 
granted  for  its  use,  and  it  was  thronged  with  members  and 
others  anxious  to  listen  to  the  eloquent  advocates  of  immediate 
emancipation.  At  the  meeting  Edmund  Quincy  submitted  a 
resolution,  gratefully  acknowledging  the  signal  manner  in 
which  the  antislavery  cause  had  been  prospered  during  the* 


372        RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

past  year,  and  "  the  bright  ray  of  promise  which  assures  us 
that  the  beams  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  will  not  forever 
be  obscured  by  the  mists  which  rise  from  a  sensual  and  mer 
cenary  world." 

Mr.  Quincy  and  his  associates  were,  doubtless,  too  sanguine 
and  over-confident ;  and  yet  there  were  cheering  signs  of  pro 
gress.  Shortly  afterward,  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts 
adopted,  with  little  opposition,  a  series  of  resolutions  against 
the  admission  of  Texas ;  against  the  admission  of  any  more 
slave  States  ;  in  favor  of  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  slave- 
trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  the  prohibition  of  slav 
ery  in  the  Territories.  These  resolutions  were  reported  by 
James  C.  Alvord,  then  a  senator  from  Franklin  County.  They 
were  accompanied  by  two  reports,  in  which  the  questions  in 
volved  were  discussed  with  great  clearness  and  force.  In  the 
autumn  of  that  year  Mr.  Alvord  was  elected  to  Congress,  much 
to  the  gratification  not  only  of  the  antislavery  men  of  Massa 
chusetts  but  of  the  whole  country.  He  did  not  live,  however, 
to  take  his  seat  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  and  in  his  early 
and  premature  grave  were  buried  the  high  hopes  which  had 
been  excited  by  his  brief  and  brilliant  career. 

While  the  questions  involved  in  these  resolutions  were  pend 
ing  before  the  legislative  committee,  Wendell  Phillips  ad 
dressed  it  against  the  annexation  of  Texas,  unveiling  and 
properly  characterizing  the  plottings  of  the  Slave  Power  in 
that  matter.  Angelina  E.  Grimke,  the  first  lady  ever  per 
mitted  to  address  a  legislative  committee  in  the  Common 
wealth,  was  allowed  to  appear  before  the  same.  Her  appeals 
were,  earnest,  eloquent,  and  full  of  pathos  and  tenderness. 
She  referred  to  her  self-exile  from  South  Carolina,  her  native 
State,  because  she  could  not  endure  the  sufferings  to  which  the 
bondmen  were  doomed  ;  and  she  invoked  the  action  of  the 
legislature  and  the  people  of  the  North.  Her  self-possession 
and  dignity,  her  facts,  arguments,  and  appeals,  deeply  im 
pressed  the  committee,  the  legislature,  and  the  people  of  the 
Commonwealth. 

The  legislature  of  Connecticut,  under  the  lead  of  Francis 
Gillette,  then  a  young  representative  from  Hartford,  afterward 


ACTION  OF  NORTHERN  LEGISLATURES. 


373 


a  member  of  the  United  States  Senate,  and  always  an  earnest 
and  consistent  advocate  of  freedom,  repealed  the  black  law 
enacted  in  1833  for  the  purpose  of  suppressing  the  colored 
school  of  Miss  Prudence  Crandall.  The  same  legislature 
passed  resolutions  against  the  annexation  of  Texas,  the  slave- 
trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  in  favor  of  the  right  of 
petition,  thus  placing  Connecticut  by  the  side  of  Massachusetts 
in  the  cause  of  freedom. 

About  the  same  time  the  legislature  of  Vermont,  after  lis 
tening  to  a  long  and  brilliant  speech  from  Alvan  Stewart 
of  New  York,  reported  resolutions  similar  in  character  to 
those  adopted  in  Massachusetts.  They  were  passed,  too,  in 
the  Senate,  by  a  unanimous  vote,  and  in  the  House  without 
division.  Henry  B.  Stanton  and  other  eloquent  champions  of 
the  cause  addressed  the  legislatures  and  legislative  committees 
of  other  States ;  and,  where  such  hearings  were  refused,  at 
tended  and  pleaded  the  cause  of  freedom  in  other  capitals 
while  their  legislatures  were  in  session.  In  all  the  other  legis 
latures  of  the  Northern  States,  too,  there  were  active  and  grow 
ing  minorities  interested  and  engaged  in  the  same  great 
work. 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

THE  ALTON    TRAGEDY,  —  MURDER   OF  ELIJAH  P.   LOYEJOT. 

Mr.  Lovejoy  discusses  the  Slavery  Question.  —  Maintains  the  Right  of  the  Press 
and  Speech.  —  Murder  of  a  Negro.  —  Charge  of  Judge  Lawless.  —  Destruc 
tion  of  the  Office  of  the  "Observer." —  The  Press  destroyed  at  Alton.— 
The  Slaveholders  demand  its  Suppression.  —  It  is  destroyed.  —  Mr.  Lovejoy 
mobbed  in  Missouri.  —  Insulted  at  Home.  —  Speech  to  the  Citizens.  —  Excite 
ment  in  Alton.  —  Mr.  Linder  leads  a  Mob.  —  State  Society  formed  at  Upper 
Alton.  —  Speech  of  Edward  Beecher.  —  Meeting  at  the  Store  to  protect  the 
Press.  —  Assault  upon  the  Warehouse.  —  The  Fire  returned.  — Mr.  Lovejoy 
shot ;  died.  —  Press  thrown  into  the  River.  —  The  Murder  applauded  or  ex 
cused  by  the  Supporters  of  Slavery.  —  Resolutions  of  the  Boston  Abolition 
ists.  —  Faneuil  Hall  refused.  —  Dr.  Channing's  Letter.  —  Mr.  Hallett's  Reso 
lutions.  —The  Hall  granted.  —Address  of  Dr.  Channing.  —Resolutions  of 
Mr.  Hallett.  —  Mr.  Austin's  Speech.  —  Reply  of  Wendell  Phillips.  —  Excite 
ment.  —  Action  of  the  National  and  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Societies.  — 
Edmund  Quincy.  —  Non-Resistants. 

ON  the  7th  of  November,  1837,  the  cause  of  freedom  re 
ceived  its  first  baptism  of  blood.  On  that  day  Rev.  Elijah  P. 
Lovejoy  was  murdered  by  a  mob  at  Alton,  Illinois.  No  pre 
vious  event  had  so  startled,  alarmed,  and  fixed  the  attention 
of  the  more  conscientious  and  thoughtful  portion  of  the  coun 
try.  Nothing  had  so  clearly  indicated  to  antislavery  men  the 
nature  of  the  conflict  in  which  they  were  engaged,  the  desper 
ate  character  of  the  foe  with  which  they  were  grappling. 

Mr.  Lovejoy  was  a  native  of  Maine,  and  a  graduate  of 
Waterville  College  in  1826.  At  the  age  of  twenty-four  he 
went  to  the  West,  and  became  a  teacher  in  St.  Louis.  Two 
years  afterward  he  became  the  editor  of  a  political  journal  of 
the  National  Republican  party,  and  an  active  supporter  of  Henry 
Clay.  In  1832  he  united  with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  en 
tered  for  a  brief  period  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Princeton, 
New  Jersey,  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Presbytery  of  Phila 
delphia,  and,  in  the  autumn  of  that  year,  returned  to  Mis- 


THE  ALTON  TRAGEDY,  —  MUEDER  OF  ELIJAH  P.  LOVEJOY.     375 

souri,  and  established  the  St.  Louis  "  Observer,"  a  weekly 
religious  journal.  During  the  ensuing  year,  while  avowing  his 
hostility  to  immediate  emancipation,  he  expressed  the  opinion 
that,  if  slavery  could  be  removed  from  Missouri,  that  great 
State  would  start  forward  in  a  race  of  energy  and  improvement 
which  would  place  her  in  the  front  rank  of  her  sister  States. 
While  absent  from  the  city,  at  a  meeting  of  the  synod,  an 
excitement  commenced  in  regard  to  his  strictures  on  slavery  ; 
and  the  alarmed  proprietors  of  the  paper  issued  a  card,  declar 
ing  their  opposition  to  the  wild  scheme  of  the  Abolitionists. 
Before  leaving  home,  he  had  received  a  communication  from 
nine  leading  citizens  of  St.  Louis,  friends  and  supporters  of 
the  "  Observer,"  begging  him  to  "  pass  over  in  silence  every 
thing  connected  with  the  subject  of  slavery."  Upon  that 
communication  he  made  the  indorsement  that  he  did  not 
yield  to  the  wishes  expressed,  had  been  persecuted  for  not 
doing  so,  but  had  kept  a  good  conscience,  which  had  more 
than  repaid  him  for  all  he  had  suffered.  "  I  have  sworn  eter 
nal  hostility  to  slavery,  and  by  the  blessing  of  God  I  will 
never  go  back." 

Returning  to  St.  Louis,  Mr.  Lovejoy  issued  an  address  to 
his  excited  fellow-citizens,  in  which  he  maintained  with  signal 
boldness  the  right  to  discuss  questions  pertaining  to  slavery, 
or  any  other  evil  which  concerned  the  interests  of  humanity. 
"  I  deem  it,"  he  said,  "  my  duty  to  take  my  stand  upon  the 
Constitution.  Here  is  firm  ground  ;  I  feel  it  to  be  such  ;  and 
I  do  most  respectfully  but  decidedly  declare  to  you  my  fixed 
determination  to  maintain  this  ground.  We  have  slaves,  it  is 
true  ;  but  I  am  not  one."  While  avowing  his  purpose  never 
to  surrender  the  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press,  he  ex 
pressed  the  hope  that  he  should  maintain  these  rights  with  the 
meekness  and  humility  that  became  a  Christian,  but  especially 
a  Christian  minister.  He  reminded  the  inflamed  people  of  St. 
Louis  that  blood  kindred  to  that  which  flowed  in  his  veins  had 
flowed  freely  on  the  plains  of  Lexington  and  on  the  heights  of 
Bunker  Hill,  and  he  assured  them  that  his  blood  should  flow 
as  freely  as  if  it  were  water,  "  ere,"  he  said,  "  I  surrender  my 
right  to  plead  the  cause  of  truth  and  righteousness  before  my 


376        RISE  AND  FALL  OF   THE  SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

fellow-citizens  and  in  the  face  of  all  opposers."  Protesting 
against  all  attempts,  by  whomsoever  made,  to  interfere  with 
the  liberty  of  the  press,  he  declared  his  fixed  purpose  to  sub 
mit  to  no  such  dictation.  "  I  am,"  he  said,  "  prepared  to 
abide  the  consequences.  I  have  appealed  to  the  Constitution 
and  the  laws  of  my  country ;  if  they  fail  to  protect  me,  I 
appeal  to  God,  and  with  him  I  cheerfully  rest  my  cause." 

At  the  request  of  the  proprietors  of  the  "  Observer,"  he 
surrendered  its  editorship,  and  removed  to  Alton.  The  paper 
soon  passing  into  other  hands  as  payment  of  a  debt,  its  new 
owner  presented  it  to  him,  and  he  at  once  returned  and  entered 
upon  its  publication.  In  the  spring  of  1836  an  excited  mob 
took  Francis  J.  Mclntosh,  a  mulatto,  from  the  jail,  where  he 
had  been  lodged  for  fatally  stabbing  one  officer  and  wounding 
another  who  had  arrested  him,  carried  him  out  of  the  city, 
chained  him  to  a  tree,  and  burned  him  to  death.  As  the  mat 
ter  came  before  the  grand  jury,  Judge  Lawless  in  his  charge 
expressed  the  astounding  sentiment  that  if  a  mob  be  hurried 
on  to  its  deeds  of  violence  and  blood  by  some  "  mysterious, 
metaphysical,  and  almost  electric  frenzy,"  participators  in  it  are 
absolved  from  guilt,  and  are  not  proper  subjects  of  punishment. 
If  such  be  the  fact,  he  said,  "  act  not  at  all  in  the  matter  ;  the 
case  then  transcends  your  jurisdiction,  it  is  beyond  the  reach 
of  human  law." 

For  commenting  on  this  revolting  deed,  and  the  still  more 
revolting  judicial  opinion,  Mr.  Lovejoy's  office  was  entered  and 
destroyed  by  a  mob.  He  removed  the  press  to  Alton  ;  only, 
however,  to  see  it  seized  upon  the  bank  of  the  river  and  broken 
into  fragments.  A  meeting  of  citizens  was  held  at  once,  and 
a  pledge  given  to  reimburse  him  for  his  loss.  Mr.  Lovejoy 
assured  them  that  it  was  not  his  purpose  to  establish  an  aboli 
tion,  but  a  religious  press.  Indeed,  he  was  not  an  Abolition 
ist,  though  he  expected  to  live  and  die  an  uncompromising 
enemy  to  slavery,  and  should  hold  himself  at  liberty  to  speak 
and  write  as  he  pleased  on  any  subject.  In  July,  1837,  a  pub 
lic  meeting  assembled,  bitterly  denounced  the  "  Observer  "  for 
its  publication  of  articles  favorable  to  abolitionism,  and  cen 
sured  its  editor.  To  a  committee  appointed  by  this  meeting 


THE  ALTON  TRAGEDY,  —  MURDER  OF  ELIJAH  P.  LOVEJOY.     377 

Mr.  Lovejoy  declared,  with  great  firmness,  that  liberty  of 
speech  is  something  not  to  be  called  in  question,  —  that  it  was 
a  right  which  came  from  his  Maker,  belonging  to  man  as  man, 
and  inalienable. 

Although  the  "  Observer  "  was  no  longer  printed  in  St. 
Louis,  its  citizens  and  presses  demanded  that  Illinois  should 
abate  what  they  regarded  as  a  nuisance,  under  the  penalty  of 
losing  the  trade  of  slaveholding  States,  —  the  same  rod,  in 
deed,  so  long  and  successfully  held  in  terror  em  by  the  domi 
neering  South  over  the  abject  North.  Consequently,  in  the 
month  of  August,  Mr.  Lovejoy's  office  and  press  were  again 
destroyed,  during  his  absence  ;  and  he  was  most  grossly  in 
sulted  on  his  return.  Another  press  was  purchased,  and  stored 
in  the  warehouse  of  Gerry  and  Miller.  The  mob  again  assem 
bled,  broke  open  the  building,  destroyed  the  press,  and  threw 
the  fragments  into  the  Mississippi.  A  few  days  afterward  he 
was  mobbed  again  at  the  house  of  his  mother-in-law,  in  St. 
Charles,  Missouri,  on  his  return  from  church,  where  he  had 
officiated  ;  and  he  was  compelled  to  leave  clandestinely  to  save 
his  life. 

Meetings  were  held  in  Alton  by  the  excited  inhabitants  to 
consider  the  question  of  the  longer  publication  of  the  paper. 
At  one  held  on  the  3d  of  November,  at  his  request  he  was 
permitted  to  speak  in  his  own  behalf.  With  manly  firm 
ness  and  Christian  boldness  he  reminded  his  fellow-citizens 
that  he  respected  their  feelings,  and  acted  in  opposition  to 
them  with  great  regret.  He  valued  their  good  opinion  ;  but 
he  must  be,  he  said,  "  governed  by  higher  considerations  than 
either  the  favor  or  the  fear  of  man.  I  am  impelled  to  the 
course  I  have  taken  because  I  fear  God.  As  I  shall  answer  to 
my  God,  in  the  great  day,  I  dare  not  abandon  my  sentiments, 
or  cease  in  all  proper  ways  to  propagate  them."  Reminding 
the  meeting  that  if  he  had  committed  any  crime  they  could 
convict  him,  as  they  had  the  public  sentiment  and  juries 
on  their  side,  he  asked :  "  If  I  have  been  guilty  of  no  viola 
tion  of  law,  why  am  I  hunted  up  and  down  continually  like 
a  partridge  upon  the  mountain  ?  Why  am  I  threatened  with 
the  tar-barrel  ?  Why  am  I  waylaid  every  day,  and  from 

48 


378        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

night  to  night  ?  Why  is  my  life  in  jeopardy  every  hour  ?  " 
Planting  himself  on  his  unquestionable  rights,  he  declared  the 
question  to  be,  "  Whether  my  property  shall  be  protected  ; 
whether  I  shall  be  suffered  to  go  home  to  my  family  at  night 
without  being  assailed  and  threatened  with  tar  and  feathers 
and  assassination  ;  whether  my  afflicted  wife,  whose  life  has 
been  in  jeopardy  from  continued  alarm  and  excitement,  shall 
night  after  night  be  driven  from  her  sick-bed  into  the  garret, 
to  save  her  life  from  brickbats  and  the  violence  of  the  mob." 
This  allusion  to  his  family  overcame  his  feelings,  and  he 
burst  into  tears.  The  sympathy  of  the  meeting  was  deeply 
excited.  Many  sobbed  aloud,  and  even  some  of  his  enemies 
wept.  Recovering  himself,  he  begged  forgiveness  for  having 
been  betrayed  into  weakness  by  the  thought  of  his  family ;  and 
he  assured  the  meeting  that  he  had  no  personal  fears.  Admit 
ting  that  he  was  powerless,  he  said :  "  I  know  you  can  tar 
and  feather  me,  hang  me  up,  or  put  me  in  the  Mississippi. 
But  what  then  ?  Where  shall  I  go  ?  I  have  been  made  to 
feel  if  I  am  not  safe  in  Alton  I  shall  not  be  safe  anywhere." 

There  were  some  who,  while  insisting  on  the  suppression  of 
his  press  and  driving  him  from  Alton,  expressed  the  wish  that 
no  unnecessary  disgrace  should  be  affixed  to  him.  To  such 
suggestions  he  replied  :  "  I  reject  all  such  compassion.  You 
cannot  disgrace  me.  Scandal,  falsehood,  and  calumny  have 
done  their  worst.  My  shoulders  have  borne  the  burden  till  it 
sits  easy  upon  them.  I,  and  I  alone,  can  disgrace  myself; 
and  the  deepest  of  all  disgraces  would  be  at  a  time  like  this 
to  deny  my  Master  by  forsaking  his  cause.  He  died  for  me  ; 
and  I  were  most  unworthy  to  bear  his  name  should  I  refuse,  if 
need  be,  to  die  for  Him."  Reminding  the  meeting  that  he 
had,  on  a  recent  visit  to  St.  Charles,  been  torn  from  the  fran 
tic  embrace  of  his  family,  he  closed  with  this  declaration  :  — 
"  I  have  concluded,  after  consultation  with  my  friends,  and 
earnestly  seeking  counsel  of  God,  to  remain  at  Alton,  and  here 
to  insist  on  protection  in  the  exercise  of  my  rights.  If  the 
civil  authorities  refuse  to  protect  me,  I  must  look  to  God  ;  and, 
if  I  die,  I  am  determined  to  make  my  grave  in  Alton.  Sir,  I 
dare  not  flee  away  from  Alton.  Should  I  attempt  it,  I  should 


THE  ALTON  TRAGEDY,  —  MURDER  OF  ELIJAH  P.  LOVEJOY.    379 

feel  that  the  angel  of  the  Lord,  with  his  flaming  sword,  was 
pursuing  me  wherever  I  went.  It  is  because  I  fear  God  that  I 
am  not  afraid  of  all  who  oppose  me  in  this  city." 

His  earnestness  and  manifest  sincerity  made  a  deep  impres 
sion  upon  the  audience.  Dr.  Edward  Beecher,  who  was  pres 
ent,  thus  describes  the  scene  :  —  "I  have  been  affected  often 
times  with  the  power  of  intellect  and  eloquence  ;  but  never 
was  I  so  overcome  as  at  this  hour.  He  made  no  display,  there 
was  no  rhetorical  decoration,  no  violence  of  action.  All  was 
native  truth,  and  deep,  pure,  and  tender  feeling.  Many  a  hard 
face  did  I  see  wet  with  tears  as  he  struck  the  chords  of  feeling 
to  which  God  made  the  soul  to  respond.  Even  his  bitter  ene 
mies  wept.  It  reminded  me  of  Paul  before  Festus,  and  of 
Luther  at  Worms." 

The  crowd,  however,  then  present,  represented  too  faithfully 
the  popular  sentiment  of  that  section  of  the  country  to  be 
much  controlled  by  the  faith  or  eloquence  of  such  a  man. 
They  were  far  better  prepared  to  respond  to  the  counter  ap 
peals  of  John  Hogan,  then  a  Methodist  minister  and  afterward 
a  Democratic  member  of  Congress  from  St.  Louis,  who,  launch 
ing  his  vile  epithets  and  fierce  invectives  upon  Mr.  Lovejoy 
and  the  Abolitionists,  inflamed  the  minds  and  stirred  up  to 
deeper  frenzy  that  class  of  men  of  which  mobs  are  made. 

The  city  was  in  a  state  of  Intense  excitement.  Violence 
was  anticipated,  as  it  had  been  foreshadowed  by  the  disgrace 
ful  and  disorganizing  proceedings  which  had  broken  up  a  con 
vention  at  Upper  Alton,  during  the  previous  week,  and  had 
defeated  the  purposes  of  its  original  promoters.  The  call  was 
to  "  the  friends  of  the  slave  and  of  free  discussion  in  Illinois  "  ; 
and  yet,  by  packing  the  convention  with  men  of  an  opposite 
faith,  under  the  lead  of  W.  F.  Linder,  attorney-general  of 
the  State,  a  series  of  resolutions  was  adopted  indorsing  slav 
ery  and  proclaiming  that  all  interference  with  it  should  be 
"  discountenanced."  And  by  the  same  vote  that  sustained 
these  resolutions  was  the  convention  adjourned  sine  die.  The 
men,  however,  who  called  the  convention,  were  not  to  be  thus 
baffled.  A  subsequent  meeting  was  called  at  the  house  of 
Rev.  Mr.  Hurlburt  of  the  same  place ;  and,  although  the 


380       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

formation  of  an  antislavery  society  had  not  been  one  of  the 
fixed  objects  of  the  original  convention,  it  was  now  seen  to 
be  demanded,  and  it  was  accordingly  effected.  Officers  were 
chosen,  and  a  most  able  address  and  declaration  of  senti 
ments,  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Beecher,  were  sent  forth.  To 
add  to  the  flame  already  burning  so  fiercely,  a  colonization 
meeting  was  held  about  that  time,  at  which  fiery  harangues 
were  made,  more  hostile  to  antislavery  and  its  friends  than  to 
slavery  and  its  abettors.  Of  course,  a  conflict  so  acrimonious 
and  determined  between  principles  so  radical  and  antagonistic 
must  culminate  in  something  more  sanguinary  than  words. 
The  arrival  of  another  press  was  the  occasion  of  a  demonstra 
tion  which  ended  in  arson  and  blood. 

The  enemies  of  Mr.  Lovejoy  had  determined  to  seize  and 
destroy  it  on  its  arrival ;  while  a  few  friends,  equally  in  ear 
nest,  had  determined  to  defend  it.  As  the  former  were  watch 
ing  for  its  coming,  about  fifty  of  the  latter  assembled  at  the 
stone  warehouse  where  it  was  to  be  stored  on  its  arrival,  and 
organized  an  armed  force  for  its  defence.  After  that  organiza 
tion  had  been  effected,  about  thirty  remained,  under  the  com 
mand  of  a  city  constable.  The  looked-for  press  arrived  at 
three  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  7th  of  November,  and 
the  intelligence  of  its  arrival  was  made  known  by  the  blowing 
of  horns.  The  mayor,  John  McKrum,  went  to  the  warehouse 
and  aided  in  storing  it.  The  utmost  excitement,  however,  pre 
vailed  during  the  day,  though  the  mayor  came  to  the  conclu 
sion,  after  making  inquiries,  that  no  further  violence  was  in 
tended.  There  being  no  sign  of  an  assault  on  the  building,  at 
nine  o'clock  in  the  evening  most  of  its  defenders  retired, 
leaving  about  a  dozen,  willing  to  risk  their  lives,  if  needful,  in 
defence  of  Mr.  Lovejoy  and  his  property. 

An  hour  or  two  afterward  there  came  from  the  grog-shops 
thirty  or  forty  persons,  who  knocked  at  the  door  and  demanded 
the  press.  Mr.  Gilman,  one  of  the  owners  of  the  warehouse, 
informed  them  that  it  would  not  be  given  up ;  that  they  had 
been  authorized  by  the  mayor  to  defend  the  property,  and  they 
should  do  it  at  the  hazard  of  their  lives.  Presenting  a  pistol, 
the  leader  announced  that  they  were  resolved  to  have  it  at  any 


THE  ALTON  TRAGEDY,  —  MURDER  OF  ELIJAH  P.  LOVEJOY.     381 

sacrifice.  Stones  were  thrown,  windows  broken,  and  shots 
were  fired  at  the  building.  These  shots  were  returned,  and 
several  of  the  rioters  were  wounded,  one  mortally.  Ladders 
were  obtained  and  preparations  were  made  for  firing  the  build 
ing,  and  the  cry  was  raised  :  "  Burn  them  out."  The  mayor, 
accompanied  by  a  justice  of  the  peace,  was  sent  by  the  mob  to 
propose  the  surrender  of  the  press  on  condition  that  no  one 
should  be  injured.  To  the  demand  of  Mr.  Oilman  that  the 
mayor  should  call  upon  the  citizens  to  save  his  building,  the 
latter  replied  that  the  mob  was  too  strong,  that  he  had  failed 
to  persuade  and  was  powerless  to  command.  Admitting  the 
lawful  right  of  persons  within  the  building  to  defend  the  pror> 
erty,  he  retired  and  reported  the  result  to  the  rioters,  who 
raised  the  cry  :  "  Fire  the  building  and  shoot  every  d — d  Abo 
litionist  as  he  leaves !  "  With  the  aid  of  ladders,  the  mob 
mounted  the  building  and  fired  the  roof.  Five  of  the  defend 
ers  sallied  forth  from  the  building,  fired  upon  and  dispersed 
the  mob,  and  returned.  Mr.  Lovejoy  and  two  others  then 
stepped  outside  of  the  building,  were  fired  upon  by  rioters  con 
cealed  by  a  pile  of  lumber,  and  Mr.  Lovejoy  received  five  balls, 
three  of  them  in  his  breast.  Returning  at  once  to  the  count 
ing-room,  he  expired  almost  instantly,  exclaiming,  "  I  am  shot ! 
I  am  shot !  "  One  of  his  friends  was  wounded,  but  not  fatally. 
After  his  death,  those  in  the  building  offered  to  surrender ; 
but  their  offer  was  declined.  One  of  the  number,  going  out 
for  the  purpose  of  making  terms  with  the  rioters,  was  severely 
wounded.  Most  of  them  left  the  building,  but  were  fired  upon 
in  their  attempts  to  escape.  The  mob  then  rushed  into  the 
building,  seized  the  press,  broke  it,  and  threw  the  fragments 
into  the  river.  The  next  day  Mr.  Lovejoy's  body  was  borne  to 
his  home,  amid  the  heartless  rejoicings  and  scoffings  of  those 
who  had  destroyed  his  property  and  taken  his  life.  Thus 
bravely  fell  one  of  the  most  heroic  of  that  number  of  noble  and 
earnest  men  who  early  consecrated  themselves  to  the  great  and 
glorious  purpose  of  maintaining,  at  fearful  odds,  that  essential 
palladium  of  a  republic,  —  freedom  of  thought,  speech,  and  the 
press.  The  conduct  of  the  mayor  was  glaringly  vacillating, 
inefficient,  and  open  to  criticism  and  censure.  He  himself  ad- 


382       EISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

mitted  that  his  directions,  on  an  occasion  when  the  majesty 
of  law  should  have  asserted  its  supremacy,  had  been  the  advice 
of  a  citizen,  rather  than  the  command  of  an  officer. 

There  were  no  demonstrations  friendly  or  hostile  at  Mr.  Love- 
joy's  burial,  save  a  simple  prayer  at  his  grave.  He  was  buried 
on  a  bluff,  overlooking,  in  its  peaceful  repose,  the  rolling  river 
and  busy  town  beneath.  For  many  years  no  stone  marked  the 
spot.  Not  long  since,  however,  an  admirer  and  friend  of  the 
martyr  procured  a  simple  monument,  with  this  inscription :  — 

Hie  jacet 
LOVEJOY. 
Jam  parce  sepulto. 
"  Here  lies  Lovejoy  ;  now  spare  his  grave." 

What  a  change  has  a  third  of  a  century  wrought.  Then  the 
youthful  minister  of  the  gospel,  hunted,  in  his  own  touching- 
words,  like  a  partridge  on  the  mountains,  and  appealing  in  vain 
for  protection  against  the  infuriated  mob,  found  the  officers  of 
government  and  the  leaders  of  public  opinion  awed  by  the 
demon  of  slavery,  rather  than  inspired  by  the  genius  of  liberty. 
Now,  that  mob  dispersed,  many  of  its  members  and  leaders 
known  to  have  come  to  a  violent  and  ignominious  end,  and 
that  terrible  system,  the  guilty  source  of  all  that  violence,  no 
longer  existing.  The  victim  himself  is  admiringly  cherished 
in  the  nation's  memory,  and  is  sure  of  a  grateful  mention  on 
the  pages  of  its  history. 

The  murder  of  Lovejoy  made  a  deep  impression  upon  the 
country.  The  friends  of  slavery  and  the  enemies  of  free  dis 
cussion  applauded,  or  at  best  excused,  the  bloody  deed,  while 
the  friends  of  liberty  and  of  the  freedom  of  speech  and  press 
received  the  news  with  profound  sorrow  and  alarm.  They  saw 
in  it  a  new  revelation  of  the  magnitude  and  serious  character 
of  the  contest  on  which  they  had  entered.  They  saw,  too,  that 
the  conflict  was  not  to  be  the  bloodless  encounter  of  ideas 
alone,  but  one  in  which  might  be  involved  scenes  of  bloody 
violence  and  personal  hazard  and  harm.  Had  they  understood 
the  full  significance  of  that  sanguinary  act,  and  the  desperate 
character  of  their  foe,  as  revealed  in  the  events  of  subsequent 
years,  their  alarm  might  well  have  been  greater. 


THE  ALTON  TRAGEDY,  —  MURDER  OF  ELIJAH  P.  LOVEJOY.    383 

The  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Massachusetts  Anti-Slavery 
Society  was  at  once  convened  in  Boston,  and  a  series  of  res 
olutions  was  adopted  declaring  that  the  guilt  of  that  bloody 
tragedy  was  not  confined  to  the  immediate  actors  therein  ;  that 
it  was  one  of  the  natural  and  inevitable  consequences  of  toler 
ating  the  system  of  slavery ;  and  that  in  the  murder  of  this 
Christian  martyr  the  church,  the  press,  and  the  people,  who 
justified  the  enslavement  of  their  countrymen,  instigated  riots, 
and  connived  at  the  prostration  of  lawful  authority,  had  par 
ticipated  to  a  greater  or  less  extent. 

When  the  intelligence  of  the  Alton  tragedy,  as  it  was  com 
monly  characterized,  reached  Boston,  Dr.  William  Ellery  Chan- 
ning  and  a  hundred  of  its  citizens  applied  for  the  use  of  Faneuil 
Hall,  to  give  expression  to  their  horror  at  this  murder  of  a 
Christian  clergyman.  But  their  application  was  rejected.  This 
refusal,  and  especially  the  reasons  assigned  therefor,  greatly 
increased  the  popular  indignation  and  apprehension  ;  affording, 
as  it  did,  but  another  illustration  of  the  national  vassalage  and 
subserviency  to  the  Slave  Power,  when  even  the  doors  of  the 
Cradle  of  Liberty  were  rudely  closed  against  those  who  would 
mourn  over  the  martyrdom  of  one  of  its  bravest  and  most 
heroic  defenders.  Men  of  all  parties  and  sects  were  greatly 
excited.  With  the  fearless  promptitude  demanded  by  the  crisis, 
Dr.  Channing  addressed  an  appeal  to  the  citizens  of  Boston  to 
reverse  this  arbitrary  action  of  the  city  government.  Avowing 
that  the  purpose  of  the  proposed  meeting  was  to  maintain  the 
sacredness  and  freedom  of  the  press  against  all  assaults,  he 
declared  that  to  intimate  that  such  action  did  not  express  the 
public  opinion  of  Boston,  and  that  it  would  provoke  a  mob, 
was  to  "  pronounce  the  severest  libel  upon  that  city."  "  Has  it 
come  to  this  ?  "  he  asked.  "  Has  Boston  fallen  so  low  ?  May 
not  its  citizens  be  trusted  to  come  together  to  express  the  great 
principles  of  liberty  for  which  their  fathers  died  ?  Are  our 
fellow-citizens  to  be  murdered  in  .the  act  of  defending  their 
property  and  of  assuming  the  right  of  free  discussion  ?  and  is 
it  unsafe  in  this  metropolis  to  express  abhorrence  of  the  deed  ? 
If  such  be  our  degradation,  we  ought  to  know  the  awful  truth  ; 
and  those  among  us  who  retain  a  portion  of  the  spirit  of  our 


384       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

ancestors  should  set  themselves  to  work  to  recover  their  de 
generate  posterity."  He  asserted  that  Boston,  by  this  action 
of  her  city  authorities,  had  bade  Alton  go  on  to  destroy  the 
press  and  put  down  the  liberty  of  speech. 

This  thrilling  appeal  from  one  occupying  Dr.  Channing's 
position  made  a  deep  impression.  A  public  meeting  was 
called  at  the  old  Supreme  Court  room  to  "  take  into  considera 
tion  the  reasons  assigned  by  the  mayor  and  aldermen  for  with 
holding  Faneuil  Hall,  and  to  act  in  the  premises  as  may  be 
deemed  expedient."  The  room  was  filled  to  overflowing. 
George  Bond  was  made  chairman,  and  Benjamin  F.  Hallett 
was  chosen  secretary.  After  the  reading  of  Dr.  Channing's 
letter,  a  series  of  pertinent  resolutions,  offered  by  Mr.  Hallett, 
was  discussed  and  unanimously  adopted.  A  committee  of  two 
from  each  ward  was  appointed  to  renew  the  application,  which 
happily  was  successful. 

On  the  8th  of  December  the  meeting  was  holden.  The  hall 
was  filled  to  repletion  by  the  citizens  of  Boston  and  vicinity. 
Jonathan  Phillips,  a  much  respected  citizen,  was  called  to  the 
chair,  and  opened  the  meeting  with  a  brief  and  pertinent 
speech.  Dr.  Channing  then  made  an  eloquent  and  impressive 
address.  A  series  of  resolutions,  also  from  his  pen,  was  read 
by  Mr.  Hallett,  and  seconded  and  eloquently  supported  by 
George  S.  Hillard. 

Thus  far  everything  had  been  decorous,  dignified,  and  in 
keeping  with  the  occasion.  The  addresses  had  been  listened 
to  with  respectful  attention,  if  not  with  unquestioning  appro 
bation.  At  this  point  James  T.  Austin,  attorney-general  of 
the  Commonwealth,  a  prominent  lawyer,  well  known  in  Faneuil 
Hall,  a  trained  party-leader  and  most  adroit  caucus-speaker, 
made  an  inflammatory  and  exciting  speech.  It  was  vocifer 
ously  applauded  by  the  riotous  element  of  the  meeting,  which, 
it  was  estimated,  constituted  one  third  of  the  assembly. 
Standing  in  that  hall,  consecrated  to  liberty  and  redolent  with 
the  memories  of  its  martyrs,  the  attorney-general  of  Massa 
chusetts  unblushingly  declared  that  Lovejoy  was  not  only  pre 
sumptuous  and  imprudent  while  he  lived,  but  that  "  he  died 
as  the  fool  dieth."  He  compared,  with  equal  violence  to  truth 


THE  ALTON  TRAGEDY,  —  MURDER  OF  ELIJAH  P.  LOVEJOY.    385 

and  taste,  the  murderers  of  Lovejoy  with  the  men  who  de 
stroyed  the  tea  in  Boston  harbor.  He  declared  that  wher 
ever  the  abolition  fever  raged  there  were  mobs  and  murders. 
Alluding  to  the  bondmen  in  the  most  offensive  terms,  he 
said :  — 

"  We  have  a  menagerie  here,  with  lions,  tigers,  a  hyena  and 
elephant,  a  jackass  or  two,  and  monkeys  in  plenty.  Suppose, 
now,  some  new  cosmopolite,  some  man  of  philanthropic  feel 
ings,  not  only  toward  man,  but  animals,  who  believes  that  all 
are  entitled  to  freedom  as  an  inalienable  right,  should  engage 
in  the  humane  task  of  giving  freedom  to  these  wild  beasts  of 
the  forest,  some  of  whom  are  nobler  than  their  keepers  ;  or, 
having  discovered  some  new  mode  of  reaching  their  under 
standing,  should  try  to  induce  them  to  break  their  cages  and 
be  free.  The  people  of  Missouri  had  as  much  reason  to  be 
afraid  of  their  slaves  as  we  should  have  to  be  afraid  of  the 
wild  beasts  of  the  menagerie.  They  had  the  same  dread  of 
Lovejoy  that  we  should  have  of  the  supposed  instigator,  if  we 
really  believed  the  bars  would  be  broken  and  the  caravan  let 
loose  to  prowl  about  our  streets." 

Having  pronounced  this  disgraceful  and  seditious  harangue, 
the  attorney-general  retired.  Wendell  Phillips  ascended  the 
platform,  and  was  met  with  the  hostile  demonstrations  of  the 
partisans  of  Austin,  who  had  just  applauded  so  vociferously 
his  unfeeling  and  inhuman  appeal  to  their  vile  passions  and 
still  viler  prejudices.  Mr.  Phillips  was  then  a  young  lawyer, 
unknown  to  most  present,  who  had  gone  to  the  meeting  with 
no  intention  of  taking  any  part  in  its  proceedings.  Though 
his  first  words  were  met  with  boisterous  outcries,  he  expressed 
the  hope  that  he  would  be  permitted  to  avow  his  surprise  at  the 
sentiments  just  uttered  by  such  a  man,  and  at  the  applause  they 
had  received  in  that  hall.  He  characterized  and  condemned 
that  gentleman's  language  in  the  strongest  terms  of  reproba 
tion,  though  it  was  done  in  terms  and  tones  of  thrilling  elo 
quence.  "  When  I  heard,"  he  said, "  the  gentleman  lay  down 
principles  which  placed  the  murderers  of  Alton  side  by  side 
with  Otis  and  Hancock,  with  Quincy  and  Adams,  I  thought 
those  pictured  lips,"  pointing  to  their  portraits  in  the  hall, 

49 


386       EISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

"  would  have  broken  into  voice  to  rebuke  the  recreant  Ameri 
can,  the  slanderer  of  the  dead." 

These  words  were  received  with  mingled  demonstrations  of 
censure  and  applause.  "  Sir,"  continued  Mr.  Phillips,  "  for 
the  sentiments  he  has  uttered,  on  soil  consecrated  by  the 
prayers  of  the  Puritans  and  the  blood  of  patriots,  the  earth 
should  have  yawned  and  swallowed  him  up."  Here  the  uproar 
became  great,  and  he  could  not  be  heard.  William  Sturgis, 
an  eminent  Boston  merchant,  ascended  the  platform  and  placed 
himself  by  the  side  of  Mr.  Phillips  ;  but  he,  too,  was  met  by 
the  loud  cries  of  the  excited  rioters.  "  Phillips  or  nobody," 
was  their  fiendish  cry.  "  Make  him  take  it  back !  He  sha'  n't 
go  on  until  he  takes  it  back !  "  Obtaining  a  hearing,  Mr. 
Sturgis  said  :  "  I  did  not  come  here  to  take  any  part  in  this 
discussion,  nor  do  I  intend  to  ;  but  I  do  entreat  you,  fellow- 
citizens,  by  everything  you  hold  sacred,  I  conjure  you  by  every 
association  connected  with  this  hall,  consecrated  by  our  fathers 
to  freedom  of  discussion,  that  you  listen  to  any  man  who 
addresses  you  in  a  decorous  manner." 

Resuming,  Mr.  Phillips  firmly  and  peremptorily  declared 
that  he  could  not  take  back  his  words,  and  reminded  the 
excited  throng  that  the  attorney-general  needed  not  their 
hisses  against  one  so  young,  whose  voice  had  never  before 
been  heard  in  that  hall.  He  closed  his  speech  with  the  dec 
laration  that  "  when  liberty  was  in  danger  Faneuil  Hall  had 
the  right,  and  it  was  her  duty,  to  strike  the  key-note  for  the 
Union  ;  that  the  passage  of  the  resolutions,  in  spite  of  the  oppo 
sition,  led  by  the  attorney-general,  will  show  more  decidedly 
the  deep  indignation  with  which  Boston  regards  this  outrage." 

By  this  brave  and  brilliant  speech  Mr.  Phillips,  by  one  sin 
gle  bound,  placed  himself  among  the  foremost  and  most  popu 
lar  of  American  orators,  a  position  he  has  maintained  by  the 
increasing  suffrages  of  the  nation.  Then  began  that  advocacy 
of  human  rights  which  for  more  than  a  generation  he  continued 
with  tireless  and  persistent  zeal.  To  it  he  consecrated  culture, 
learning,  and  that  marvellous  eloquence  on  which  the  multi 
tudes  of  a  generation  hung  with  never-waning  delight.  Fear 
less  and  fierce  in  his  denunciation  of  the  wrongs  of  the  op- 


THE  ALTON  TRAGEDY,  —  MURDER  OF  ELIJAH  P.  LOVEJOY.    387 

pressed,  he  was  always  merciless  in  his  castigation  of  the 
oppressor  and  his  abettors.  Confident,  too,  in  his  own  plans 
and  modes  of  action,  he  was,  perhaps,  too  apt  to  be  critical, 
censorious,  and  sometimes  intolerant  toward  those  who  were 
equally  honest,  earnest,  and  unselfish  in  their  devotion  to  the 
same  cause  to  which  his  and  their  labors  were  alike  conse 
crated.  But  if  some  others  were  more  judicious  and  practical 
in  action,  none  equalled  him  on  the  platform  and  few  surpassed 
him  with  the  pen. 

Hundreds,  however,  went  from  that  meeting  unchanged  in 
thought  and  purpose,  even  by  the  terrible  event  that  occasioned 
it,  by  the  imposing  presence  and  fervid  eloquence  which  char 
acterized  it,  or  by  the  humiliating  utterances  that  disgraced  it. 
The  virus  of  slavery  had  so  poisoned  the  public  mind  and 
heart  that  the  sentiments  and  feelings  of  the  large  body  of  the 
citizens  of  Boston  were  more  nearly  expressed  by  the  brutal 
harangue  of  Austin  than  by  the  classic  words  of  Channing  or 
the  fervid  and  indignant  eloquence  of  Phillips.  They  still 
believed,  with  Hubbard  Winslow,  a  Congregational  clergyman 
of  that  city,  who,  within  a  month,  in  his  Thanksgiving  dis 
course,  asserted  that  "  the  unchristian  principles  and  meas 
ures  "  of  the  Abolitionists  tended  to  fill  the  land  "  with  vio 
lence  and  blood  "  ;  and  that  the  mournful  disaster  at  Alton 
was  but  their  legitimate  result.  They  accepted,  too,  his  strange 
and  subversive  doctrine  that  "  republican  liberty  is  not  the  lib 
erty  to  say  and  do  what  one  pleases ;  but  liberty  to  say  and  do 
what  the  prevailing  voice  and  will  of  the  brotherhood  will 
allow  and  protect." 

The  executive  committee  of  the  American  Antislavery  So 
ciety  set  apart  the  anniversary  of  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims 
for  simultaneous  meetings  throughout  the  free  States,  to  com 
memorate  the  tragical  death  of  Mr.  Lovejoy.  To  this  call  the 
Abolitionists  very  generally  responded.  Many  meetings  were 
held  in  various  portions  of  the  country,  and  the  essential  bar 
barism  and  cruelty  of  slavery  were  made  to  be  more  distinctly 
seen  and  apprehended  in  the  light  of  that  bloody  deed.  As  a 
legitimate  result  large  accessions  were  made  to  the  ranks  of 
the  pronounced  and  avowed  Abolitionists. 


388       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

A  special  meeting  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society 
was  held  in  Boston.  Amos  A.  Phelps  gave  a  detailed  state 
ment  of  the  tragic  affair  at  Alton.  William  Lloyd  Garrison 
spoke  briefly,  but  with  his  usual  strong  and  severe  denuncia 
tion,  not  only  of  the  mob,  but  of  the  cause  which  inspired  it. 
Orestes  A.  Brownson  defended,  with  great  vigor  and  force, 
freedom  of  thought,  of  speech,  and  of  the  press.  Of  the  mar 
tyred  dead  Mr.  Phillips  spoke  eloquently.  He  referred  mourn 
fully  to  the  alleged  fact  that  the  rioters  at  Alton  were  heard 
encouraging  each  other  with  references  to  "  old  Boston."  He 
characterized,  with  becoming  indignation,  her  humiliation 
when  her  name  was  made  "  the  motto  and  war-cry  of  the 
mob." 

Edmund  Quincy,  like  Mr.  Phillips,  was  then  a  young  Boston 
lawyer.  He  had  become  somewhat  interested  in  the  discus 
sions  upon  slavery,  but  as  yet  had  not  fully  committed  himself 
to  the  antislavery  cause.  But  this  event  solved  all  doubts, 
removed  all  hesitations,  and  fixed  his  determination.  He 
came  to  that  meeting  to  lay,  as  an  offering,  his  talents  and 
social  position  upon  the  altar  of  an  unpopular  cause,  dripping 
with  the  first  fresh  blood  of  martyrdom.  In  this  his  first 
antislavery  speech  he  eloquently  enunciated  and  vindicated  the 
fundamental  principles  of  the  conflict,  and  referred,  with  much 
beauty  and  pathos,  to  "  the  sublime  idea  that  throughout  the 
vast  extent  of  the  free  portions  of  this  continent  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  New  England  are  gathered  together,  on  this  the 
birthday  of  their  common  mother,  to  pay  due  honor  to  the 
memory  of  a  brother  who  has  willingly  laid  down  his  life  in 
defence  of  those  principles  of  liberty  to  which  she  owed  her 
birth."  His  labors,  then  commenced,  continued  with  unabated 
activity  until,  by  the  adoption  of  the  Thirteenth  Amendment, 
slavery  disappeared  ;  when,  with  Mr.  Garrison,  he  retired  from 
an  organization  which  that  great  consummation  seemed  to  them 
to  render  no  longer  necessary.  Mr.  Quincy  had  not  the  melliflu 
ous,  brilliant,  and  impressive  eloquence  of  Mr.  Phillips ;  but  he 
brought  to  the  conflict  unrivalled  wit,  a  polished  and  trenchant 
pen  that  had  few  equals.  By  voice  and  pen  he  rendered  effec 
tive  service  to  the  antislavery  cause,  though  often  more  cans- 


THE  ALTON  TRAGEDY,  —  MURDER  OF  ELIJAH  P.  LOVEJOY.   389 

tic  than  charitable  toward  an  opponent,  and  sometimes  appar 
ently  more  anxious  to  make  a  point  than  to  do  strict  justice, 
even  to  a  co-laborer.  He  presented,  too,  with  great  clearness, 
the  views  of  that  class  of  reformers  with  whom  he  acted,  and 
was  among  the  ablest  exponents  of  that  type  of  abolitionism 
of  which  Mr.  Garrison  was  the  recognized  leader.  His  re 
ports,  while  secretary  of  the  Antislavery  Society,  were  models 
of  patient  and  exhaustive  research,  of  keen  and  brilliant  rhet 
oric.  Nor  can  they  now  be  read  without  vivid  impressions  of 
the  desperate  nature  of  the  disease  which  was  then  afflicting, 
disgracing,  and  endangering  the  nation,  and  clear  conceptions 
of  the  remedies  he  and  those  he  represented  were  endeavoring 
to  apply  to  its  cure. 

While  the  great  body  of  the  Abolitionists  and  friends  of  free 
discussion  thus  honored  the  self-sacrificing  and  martyr  spirit 
of  Mr.  Lovejoy,  and  justified  his  heroic  defence  of  sacred 
rights  assailed  by  armed  ruffianism,  there  were  a  few  among 
them  who  did  not  applaud,  but  rather  condemned,  his  course. 
Especially  was  this  true  of  a  section  of  that  small,  active,  but 
rather  pugnacious  portion  of  the  New  England  Abolitionists 
who  had  adopted  the  extreme  doctrine  of  non-resistance. 
They,  deeming  Mr.  Lovejoy's  position  inconsistent  with  their 
own,  not  only  questioned  its  wisdom,  but  even  characterized 
it  as  indefensible.  Such  manifestations,  however,  clearly  re 
vealed  the  impracticable  tendencies  of  their  views,  and  fore 
shadowed  not  only  the  manifest  harm  and  hindrance  they 
unquestionably  occasioned  to  the  antislavery  labors  of  the 
most  of  those  who  entertained  them,  but  also  the  heavy  bur 
den  they  laid  upon  the  cause  itself. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

CALHOUN'S  KESOLUTIONS. — ATHEKTON'S  RESOLUTIONS. — ASHBUR- 

TON   TREATY. 

Calhoun's  Resolutions.  —  Smith's  Amendment.  —  Allen's  Motion. — Debate. — 
Atherton's  Resolutions.  —  Southern  Whigs.  —  Mr.  Slade.  —  Speech  of  Mr. 
Clay.  —  Speech  of  Mr.  Morris.  —  Resolutions  of  Vermont.  —  Meeting  of  the 
XXVIth  Congress.  —  Mr.  Wise's  Resolutions.  —  Mr.  Thompson's  Resolutions. 
Menace  of  Cooper.  —  Mr.  Botts.  —  Motion  of  Mr.  Adams.  —  Amendment  of 
William  Cost  Johnson.  —  Feeling  of  the  South.  —  Letter  of  the  World's  Con 
vention  to  Southern  Governors.  —  Quintuple  Treaty.  —  Protest  of  General 
Cass.  —  Ashburton  Treaty.  —  Debate  in  the  Senate.  —  The  Treaty  sustained. 

THE  zeal  and  activity  of  the  early  Abolitionists,  the  evident 
impression  they  at  first  made  upon  the  public  conscience  and 
reason,  the  rapidly  increasing  indications  manifested  by  the 
press,  State  legislatures,  and  even  by  Congress,  that  antislavery 
ideas  were  spreading  and  gaining  a  stronger  hold  upon  the 
popular  mind  and  heart,  gave  no  little  concern  to  the  cham 
pions  of  the  Slave  Power.  Their  unsuccessful  attempts  to 
secure  penal  enactments  from  Northern  legislatures  for  the  re 
pression  of  free  discussion,  and  organized  efforts  in  behalf  of 
emancipation,  and  the  failure  of  riots  and  mobs  to  awe  or  subdue 
the  rising  spirit  of  liberty,  impelled  them  to  renewed  activity 
at  Washington  to  secure,  if  possible,  the  enunciation  of  prin 
ciples  and  the  adoption  of  measures  by  the  general  govern 
ment  which  they  had  failed  to  extort  from  the  State  legisla 
tures. 

Animated  by  this  purpose,  Mr.  Calhoun,  the  ever-watchful 
advocate  and  guardian  of  slavery,  was  quick  to  detect  the  ap 
parent  drift  of  things  and  scent  the  danger  from  afar.  With 
a  mind  of  extraordinary  acuteness,  he  drew  conclusions  from 
premises  however  furnished,  whether  by  the  principles  of  his 
own  false  philosophy,  the  concessions  of  the  Constitution,  or 


CALHOUN'S   RESOLUTIONS.  391 

these  popular  demonstrations  of  the  Northern  States  ;  and,  at 
the  same  time,  exhibited  the  spectacle  of  a  strong  and  down 
right  man,  profoundly  in  the  wrong,  seeking  boldly  and  with 
out  equivocation,  on  the  arena  of  debate  and  legislation,  ends 
others  were  pursuing  by  menace,  violence,  or  indirection. 

In  December,  1837,  he  introduced  a  series  of  resolutions 
defining  the  relative  powers  of  the  general  and  State  gov 
ernments  upon  slavery.  The  first  four  referred  to  slavery  in 
the  States,  and  the  fifth  referred  to  it  in  the  Territories  and 
the  District  of  Columbia.  The  latter  emphatically  declared 
that  the  intermeddling  of  any  State  or  any  of  its  citizens  to 
abolish  slavery  in  the  District,  or  in  any  of  the  Territories,  on 
the  ground  or  under  the  pretext  that  it  was  "  immoral  or  sin 
ful,"  would  be  a  "  direct  and  dangerous  attack  on  the  institu 
tions  of  all  the  slaveholding  States."  The  resolutions  did  not 
deny  the  power  of  Congress  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District, 
or  any  of  the  Territories  ;  but  simply  denounced  its  exercise. 
Even  Mr.  Calhoun  himself  at  that  time  did  not  defend  or  hold 
the  dogma  that  Congress  had  no  power  to  abolish  slavery  in 
the  District  of  Columbia  or  in  the  Territories. 

Early  in  January,  1838,  the  Senate  proceeded  to  the  consid 
eration  of  these  resolutions.  As  ever,  the  North  furnished  its 
quota  of  recreants  who,  not  content  with  withholding  their  sup 
port  from  its  interests,  fought  actively  and  openly  against  them. 

Mr.  Norvell  of  Michigan  desired  to  amend  the  first  resolu 
tion,  and  proceeded  to  denounce  the  Abolitionists.  He  as 
serted  that,  under  the  pretext  of  its  being  a  religious  duty  to 
extirpate  slavery,  "  the  incendiary  leaders  of  abolitionism,  in 
their  fanatical  exertions,  will  throw  back  for  fifty  years  every 
hope  of  emancipation.  Their  humanity  only  rivets  the  chains 
of  slavery  still  tighter." 

To  the  proposed  modifications  of  the  resolutions  Mr.  Cal 
houn  assented,  as  he  was  willing  to  make  any  concession  to  the 
opponents  of  the  doctrines  of  abolitionism.  Mr.  Hubbard  of 
New  Hampshire  hastened  to  declare  that  the  adoption  of  Mr. 
Calhoun' s  resolution  would  tend  to  allay  the  spirit  of  aboli 
tionism  in  the  North. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  moved  by  Mr.  Smith  of  Indiana 


392       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

to  amend  the  resolutions  so  that  nothing  contained  in  them 
should  be  construed  as  expressing  an  opinion  adverse  to  the 
sentiment  that  all  men  are  created  equal,  to  the  freedom  of 
speech  and  the  press,  and  to  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 
Referring  to  the  remarks  made  relative  to  the  punishment  of 
Abolitionists,  Mr.  Morris  of  Ohio  said  he  considered  such  avowals 
as  subversive  of  all  freedom  and  inimical  to  the  institutions  of 
the  country.  All  men  had  an  imprescriptible  right,  above  all 
government,  to  freedom  of  speech  and  the  right  of  petition. 
"  I  feel  bound,"  he  said,  "  to  defend  the  rights  of  freedom  of 
opinion,  freedom  of  thought,  freedom  of  speech,  and  freedom 
of  the  press,  to  the  latest  breath  I  may  draw." 

Mr.  Wall  of  New  Jersey  questioned  the  right  of  the  Senate 
to  sit  making  creeds  and  drawing  up  abstract  constitutional 
codes  for  the  people  ;  but  Mr. .Young  of  Illinois  advocated  the 
resolutions  as  they  were,  and  comforted  Mr.  Calhoun  with  the 
assertion  that  in  his  State  they  set  down  as  Abolitionists  all 
who  signed  an  abolition  memorial.  It  was  then  proclaimed 
by  Mr.  Lumpkin  -of  Georgia,  that,  if  the  wisdom  of  their  friends 
in  the  non-slaveholding  States  could  not  devise  ways  to  stay 
the  fury  of  the  Abolitionists,  the  slaveholding  States  must 
execute  their  laws,  and  punish  the  Abolitionists  in  the  most 
exemplary  manner. 

The  Senate,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Allen  of  Ohio,  modified  Mr. 
Smith's  amendment  so  as  to  declare  that  nothing  in  the  reso 
lutions  was  intended  to  recognize  the  right  of  Congress  to  im 
pair  the  freedom  of  speech  within  the  States.  Mr.  Smith  fur 
ther  opposed  the  resolutions,  saying  he  would  extend  to  the 
South  the  full  force  of  their  constitutional  guaranties  in  the 
protection  of  their  domestic  institutions  as  they  were.  He 
wished  the  senators  representing  that  interest  to  understand 
distinctly  that  he  would  "  cavil  on  the  ninth  part  of  a  hair  on 
any  question  going  to  extend  the  principles  or  boundary  of 
slavery  one  inch."  Mr.  Benton  thought  the  resolutions  should 
be  referred  to  a  select  committee,  to  report  at  a  future  day. 
Mr.  Calhoun  objected  to  that  suggestion,  saying  that  they  were 
reposing  on  a  volcano  ;  and  that  his  resolutions  presented  the 
only  ground  on  which  the  country  could  stand.  "  The  assaults 


CALHOUN'S   RESOLUTIONS.  393 

daily  made,"  he  said,  "  on  the  institutions  of  nearly  one  half 
of  the  States  of  the  Union  by  the  other  will  and  must,  if  con 
tinued,  make  two  people  of  one  by  destroying  every  sympathy 
between  the  two  great  sections." 

It  was  proposed  by  Mr.  Preston  of  South  Carolina  to  discard 
the  words  "  immoral  and  sinful  "  ;  but  Mr.  Calhoun  would  not 
consent  to  do  so,  declaring  abolitionism  to  be  "  nothing  else 
than  religious  fanaticism."  "  The  Abolitionists,"  he  said,  "  as 
sail  slavery  because  it  is  wicked  and  sinful,  and  I  wish  to  meet 
them  distinctly  on  that  point."  Mr.  Buchanan  was  in  favor  of 
referring  the  resolutions  to  a  select  committee.  He,  too,  de 
clared  that  the  Abolitionists  had  postponed  the  cause  of  eman 
cipation  in  three  or  four  of  the  States  for  half  a  century.  He 
opposed  emancipation  in  the  District,  and  said  if  it  were  free 
it  would  become  a  city  of  refuge  to  the  Abolitionists  —  a  secure 
asylum,  where  they  could  scatter  "  arrows,  firebrands,  and 
death." 

Mr.  Davis  of  Massachusetts  remarked  that  the  worst  that 
could  be  said  of  the  Abolitionists  by  their  bitterest  enemies  is 
what  is  actually  said :  that  they  are  deluded,  misguided  philan 
thropists,  fanatics,  heated  with  an  unbecoming  zeal.  Oppro 
brious  epithets  had  been  applied  to  them ;  but  no  one  affirmed 
that  they  aimed  at  disunion,  or  imputed  to  them  corrupt  pur 
poses.  He  said  the  slave  interest  held  the  destinies  of  the 
Republic  in  its  hands  ;  that  it  ruled,  guided,  and  adapted  pub 
lic  policy  to  its  own  views.  Mr.  Niles  of  Connecticut  affirmed, 
if  the  abolition  party  should  prevail,  and  abolition  principles 
should  triumph,  there  would  follow  reproaches,  criminations 
and  recriminations,  agitation,  alarm,  and  confusion,  and  real 
or  supposed  aggressions  would  be  offered  and  repelled;  but 
the  Union  would  stand. 

Mr.  Bayard  of  Delaware  thought  he  saw  disunion  in  the 
resolutions,  and  he  moved  to  strike  out  "  the  several  States," 
and  insert  "  the  people  of  the  United  States."  Mr.  Pierce 
of  New  Hampshire  said  there  were  indications  in  New  Eng 
land  of  a  change  of  public  sentiment,  and  he  feared  the 
elements  of  still  greater  changes  were  in  active  operation. 
The  Abolitionists  proper  were  not  gaming  ground ;  but  politics 

50 


394       RISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

were  beginning  to  mingle  with  that  question.  The  Abolition 
ists  were  making  it  a  test ;  and  he  saw  with  profound  regret, 
that  individuals  of  both  parties  were  submitting  to  their  cate 
chism.  Mr.  Crittenden  pronounced  the  resolutions  "  vague 
and  general  abstractions,  more  calculated  to  produce  agitation 
than  to  do  good." 

Mr.  Clay  had  little  confidence  in  the  healing  virtues  of  the 
resolutions.  They  had  been  offered  to  revive  and  rally  the 
States  Rights  party;  but  he  thought  the  slaveholding  States 
ought  not  to  place  their  interests  in  the  exclusive  keeping 
of  any  one  party.  He  submitted  a  series  of  resolutions  as 
an  amendment.  So  much  of  Mr.  Clay's  resolutions  as  re 
ferred  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia 
was  adopted,  in  lieu  of  Mr.  Calhoun's.  They  did  not  deny 
the  constitutional  power  of  Congress  to  abolish  slavery  in 
the  District,  or  prohibit  it  in  the  Territories,  but  based  all 
opposition  thereto  on  the  expediency  of  such  legislation  at 
that  time.  It  was  during  this  debate,  which  excited  at  that 
time  little  attention,  but  the  importance  of  which  was  afterward 
seen,  that  Mr.  Calhoun  admitted  that  he  had  been,  in  1820,  in 
favor  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  had  censured  Mr.  Ran 
dolph  for  his  opposition.  But  he  had  been  taught  his  error, 
he  said,  and  he  took  pleasure  in  acknowledging  it. 

Although  the  domestic  slave-trade  was  actively  prosecuted 
in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  scenes  continued  to  be  enacted 
there  dishonoring  a  Christian  people  and  outraging  alike  their 
sense  of  justice  and  their  national  pride,  still  the  inexorable 
Slave  Power  persistently  demanded  that  their  prayers  should 
remain  unheeded,  and  that  the  voices  of  their  representatives 
should  not  be  heard. 

The  second  session  of  the  XXYth  Congress  commenced  in 
December,  1838.  A  caucus  of  the  Democratic  party  was  im 
mediately  held  to  decide  the  course  to  be  pursued  upon  the 
vexed  and  threatening  question.  Resolutions  were  drawn  up, 
and  Mr.  Atherton  of  New  Hampshire  was  selected  to  present 
them  to  the  House.  Being  presented,  the  previous  question 
on  their  adoption  was  ordered.  A  separate  vote  on  each  reso 
lution  being  ordered,  the  first,  declaring  that  Congress  had  no 


ATHERTON'S   RESOLUTIONS. 


395 


power  over  slavery  in  the  States,  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  one 
hundred  and  ninety-four  to  six.  In  this  small  minority  was 
Mr.  Adams,  who  held  that  in  case  of  war  the  government 
would  have  power  to  abolish  slavery,  in  order  that  the  nation 
might  be  saved  ;  a  doctrine  abundantly  verified  and  illustrated 
by  recent  events. 

The  second  resolution,  declaring  that  petitions  for  the  aboli 
tion  of  slavery  in  the  District  were  intended  indirectly  to 
destroy  it  in  the  States,  was  agreed  to.  The  last  resolution, 
requiring  that  "  every  petition,  memorial,  resolution,  proposi 
tion,  or  paper  touching  or  relating,  in  any  way,  or  to  any 
extent  whatever,  to  slavery  or  the  abolition  thereof,  shall,  on 
presentation,  without  any  further  action  thereon,  be  laid  upon 
the  table,  without  being  debated,  printed,  or  referred,"  was 
adopted  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  to  seventy- 
three.  This  resolution  was  known  as  the  "  Atherton  gag  "  ; 
though  it  was  suspected  that  the  New  Hampshire  senator  was 
but  the  hand,  while  Mr.  Calhoun  was  the  brain. 

The  members  who  had  voted  against  this  suppression  of  the 
freedom  of  debate  and  the  right  of  petition  being  nearly  all 
of  them  Northern  Whigs,  their  action  enabled  the  Southern 
Democrats  to  question  the  fidelity  of  the  Southern  Whigs  to 
slavery.  Consequently,  many  Southern  Whigs  were  anxious 
to  have  it  appear  that  they  were  more  devoted  to  that  interest 
than  their  Democratic  rivals.  Henry  A.  Wise,  then  in  full 
fellowship  with  the  Whig  party,  made  most  earnest  efforts  to 
reassure  its  Southern  wing  of  the  fidelity  of  the  national  party. 
Among  other  extreme  propositions  made  by  him  were  those 
declaring  that  petitions  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  Dis 
trict  or  in  the  Territories  "  were  in  violation  of  the  Federal 
Constitution  "  ;  and  that  slaveholding  citizens  had  the  right  to 
take  their  slaves  voluntarily  to  and  through  non-slaveholding 
States,  and  to  "  sojourn  and  remain  with  them  temporarily  in 
any  of  the  States."  An  unsuccessful  effort  was  made  by  Mr. 
Slade  of  Vermont  to  introduce  a  series  of  resolutions  rescind 
ing  a  portion  of  those  introduced  by  Mr.  Atherton. 

During  this  session,  a  Maryland  slaveholder,  mounted  on 
horseback,  armed  with  pistols,  and  bearing  the  plantation 


396        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

whip,  marched  by  the  Capitol  about  thirty  men,  in  double 
files,  each  fastened  by  the  wrist  to  a  long  chain  passing  be 
tween  them  from  front  to  rear.  Several  women  followed  in 
the  same  order,  but  without  the  chain.  This  sad  and  mourn 
ful  procession,  illustrating  the  revolting  barbarism  of  the  slave 
traffic  in  the  nation's  capital,  was  shielded  by  the  Democratic 
party  and  the  Southern  Whigs,  not  only  from  unfriendly  legis 
lation,  but  also  from  the  criticisms  of  the  humane  and  the 
just.  Mr.  Slade  submitted  a  resolution,  reciting  the  facts  of 
the  disgraceful  spectacle,  and  proposing  a  committee  to  report 
what  legislation  might  be  necessary  to  prevent  the  recurrence 
of  such  scenes.  But  the  Speaker  promptly  decided  that  the 
resolution  came  within  the  restrictions  of  the  "  Atherton  gag." 
While  a  scene  of  this  character  could  not  be  discussed  or  even 
inquired  into,  a  petition  of  the  mayor  of  Washington  and 
other  individuals  against  the  reception  of  antislavery  petitions 
was  presented  by  Mr.  Moore  of  New  York,  a  representative  of 
what  was  then  called  the  "  subterranean  Democracy,"  and  he 
was  permitted  to  speak  at  length  in  denunciation  of  the  Whigs 
as  Abolitionists.  He  characterized  the  Whig  party  as  the 
Federal  party ;  saying  that  it  had  joined  the  Abolitionists  for 
the  purpose  of  conferring  on  the  black  laborer  nominal  free 
dom,  and  on  the  white  laborer  virtual  bondage. 

Early  in  1839  Mr.  Clay  presented  petitions  from  citizens  of 
the  District  of  Columbia,  praying  Congress  to  suppress  all 
agitation  in  that  body  touching  slavery  and  the  slave-trade  in 
the  District.  Appealing  to  the  Searcher  of  all  hearts  that 
every  pulsation  of  his  heart  beat  high  in  the  cause  of  civil 
liberty,  Mr.  Clay  denied  that  Congress  had  the  authority  to 
prohibit  the  removal  of  slaves  from  one  slave  State  to  an 
other.  He  emphatically  declared  that  "  that  is  property  which 
the  law  declares  to  be  property,"  that  "  two  hundred  years 
of  legislation  have  sanctioned  and  sanctified  negro  slaves 
as  property."  Mr.  Clay  was  the  acknowledged  leader  of 
the  Whig  party,  an  aspirant  for  the  presidency,  with  hosts 
of  devoted  friends  anxious  for  his  elevation  to  that  exalted 
position.  During  the  first  years  of  his  political  life  he  had 
been  in  favor  of  making  Kentucky  a  free  State  ;  and  though 


RESOLUTIONS   OF   THE   VERMONT   LEGISLATURE.  397 

he  had  rendered  great  service  to  the  slaveholding  class,  it  was 
thought  by  ardent  friends  that  these  early  views  and  his  broad 
and  national  spirit  would  be  a  source  of  weakness  in  the  then 
excited  state  of  Southern  sentiment  and  feeling.  Whether 
Mr.  Clay  acted  from  his  own  impulses  or  by  the  advice  of 
friends  in  throwing  the  weight  of  his  acknowledged  influence 
into  the  scale  in  favor  of  slavery  and  the  Slave  Power,  he  not 
only  did  wrong,  but  he  clearly  committed  a  great  political 
blunder.  His  speech,  highly  complimented  by  Mr.  Calhoun, 
gave  great  offence  io  antislavery  men,  and  was  deeply  regret 
ted  by  the  Quakers  and  thousands  of  the  Whig  party,  in  whose 
bosoms  still  lingered  the  hope,  even  in  those  days  of  its  su 
premacy,  that  the  Slave  Power  would  yet  be  broken  and  its 
paralyzing  and  perilous  influence  pass  away. 

Two  days  afterward,  Mr.  Morris,  a  Democratic  senator  from 
Ohio,  on  presenting  memorials  against  slavery  and  the  slave- 
trade,  defended  the  Abolitionists  from  the  criticisms  of  Mr. 
Clay,  and  denounced  the  treatment  their  petitions  for  the  exer 
cise  of  a  clear  constitutional  power  had  received  in  the  Senate. 
He  made  an  elaborate  speech,  closing  with  the  declaration  that 
"  the  negro  will  yet  be  set  free."  He  reminded  the  Senate 
that  he  had  been  condemned  at  home  for  his  opposition  to 
slavery ;  but  he  hoped,  on  returning  to  that  home,  to  join  his 
friends  in  rekindling  the  beacon-fires  of  liberty  on  every  hill. 

In  the  same  body  Mr.  Prentiss  of  Vermont  presented  the 
resolutions  of  the  legislature  of  that  State  in  favor  of  abolish 
ing  slavery  and  the  slave-trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and 
in  the  Territories  ;  and  also  in  opposition  to  the  annexation 
of  Texas.  On  making  the  usual  motion  to  print  them,  Mr. 
Calhoun  declared  his  astonishment  that  the  people  of  Vermont 
did  not  see  that  their  action  struck  at  the  very  foundation  of 
the  Union.  Other  senators  assailing  the  action  of  the  State, 
the  Senate,  on  the  motion  of  Mr.  Lumpkin  of  Georgia,  laid 
the  motion  to  print  the  resolutions  on  the  table  ;  and  this 
insult  was  designedly  offered  to  Vermont  for  her  early  and 
unequivocal  declarations  for  freedom. 

The  XXVIth  Congress  met  in  December,  1839.  The  organ 
ization  of  the  House  was  delayed  for  several  days,  but  was  at 


398       EISE   AND   FALL    OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN   AMERICA. 

length  effected  by  the  election  of  Robert  M.  T.  Hunter  of  Vir 
ginia  for  Speaker.  He  was  a  follower  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  though 
elected  by  the  Whig  party.  On  the  30th  of  December  Mr. 
Wise  introduced  a  resolution  declaring  that  any  petition  for 
the  abolition  of  slavery  should  be  considered  as  objected  to, 
and  the  question  of  its  reception  should  be  laid  upon  the  table 
without  debate.  The  motion  to  suspend  the  rules  to  receive 
the  resolution  failing,  notice  was  given  by  Mr.  Wise  that  he 
should  object  to  the  reception  of  petitions,  and  move  to  lay 
the  question  of  reception  on  the  table.  Mr.  Rice  Garland  of 
Louisiana  moved  to  suspend  the  rules,  to  allow  him  to  present 
resolutions  declaring  that  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  Dis 
trict  would  be  a.  violation  of  the  plighted  faith  of  the  nation, 
and  that  abolition  petitions  should  not  be  considered  ;  but  his 
motion  was  not  sustained  by  the  House.  Mr.  Wise  the  next 
day  made  another  unavailing  eifort  to  introduce  his  resolutions, 
and  like  efforts  were  made  by  other  members,  but  without 
success. 

In  January,  1840,  Mr.  Thompson  of  South  Carolina  intro 
duced  a  resolution  that  all  papers  touching  slavery  should  be 
laid  on  the  table  without  being  read  or  debated.  He  closed  his 
speech  in  its  behalf  by  moving  the  previous  question.  Francis 
Granger  of  New  York  expressed  his  admiration  of  the  chivalry 
of  the  gentleman  who  would  thus  cut  off  all  reply.  The  mo 
tion  for  the  previous  question  being  withdrawn,  Mr.  Granger 
vindicated  the  right  of  petition,  and  warned  Southern  mem 
bers  that,  if  they  continued  to  deny  that  right,  they  would  find 
enlisted  under  the  banner  of  abolitionism  gallant  spirits  of 
the  North,  who  would  never  yield.  Mr.  Gentry  of  Tennessee 
said  he  would  vote  against  Mr.  Thompson's  resolution,  and  for 
the  resolution  of  Mr.  Chinn  of  Louisiana  for  a  select  commit 
tee.  The  next  day,  Mr.  Cooper  of  Georgia  said  that  his  State 
would  act  for  herself,  and  resort  to  measures  within  her  own 
power  to  put  an  end  to  abolition  petitions.  Mr.  Botts  of  Vir 
ginia,  a  new  member  and  a  Whig  of  enlarged  and  national 
views,  advocated  the  reception  and  reference  of  abolition  peti 
tions.  Mr.  Slade  defined  and  vindicated  the  principles  of  the 
opponents  of  slavery  ;  and  Mr.  Butler  of  South  Carolina  ex- 


LETTER   OF   THE  WORLD'S   CONVENTION.  399 

pressed  the  belief  that  slavery  was  defensible  from  Scripture, 
and  that  it  was  a  blessing. 

It  was  then  moved  by  Mr.  Adams,  as  an  amendment  of  the 
twenty-first  rule  of  the  House,  that  every  petition  presented  be 
received,  unless  objection  to  it  be  made  for  a  special  reason  ; 
and  that,  whenever  objection  should  be  made,  the  name  of  the 
member  making  it  and  the  reasons  therefor  be  entered  on  the 
journal,  so  that  the  question  would  then  be  :  "  Shall  the  peti 
tion  be  rejected  ?  "  Mr.  Adams  spoke  earnestly  in  favor  of 
the  reception  of  the  antislavery  petitions,  although  he  did  not 
believe,  he  said,  that  there  were  ten  members  who  would  vote 
for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District.  He  declared  that 
he  was  not  himself  prepared  to  vote  for  it,  and  had  so  stated 
at  a  previous  session.  The  debate  was  continued  several  days, 
when  William  Cost  Johnson,  a  Whig  member  from  Maryland, 
moved  to  amend  Mr.  Adams's  amendment,  so  that  no  paper 
praying  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District,  or  in  the 
Territories,  or  for  the  inhibition  of  the  slave-trade,  should  be 
entertained  by  the  House  in  any  way  whatever.  This  was 
agreed  to,  and  the  amendment  as  then  amended  was  adopted. 

The  general  unrest  and  excitement  of  the  Southern  mind  at 
this  time  were  increased  by  other  causes  than  the  proceedings 
of  Northern  agitators.  The  course  of  England  had  largely 
contributed  to  this  result.  Her  West  India  emancipation,  her 
refusal  to  pay  for  slaves  who  had  found  refuge  in  some  of  her 
ports,  the  activity  of  her  abolition  societies  and  presses,  and 
their  outspoken  sympathy  with  those  of  this  country,  the  un 
reserved  admission  by  some  of  her  leading  statesmen  of  their 
desire  for  universal  abolition,  excited  Southern  fears  and  in 
dignation. 

These  feelings  were  intensified  by  the  reception  in  1840 
of  a  circular  letter  to  the  governors  of  the  slaveholding  States 
from  the  World's  Convention,  assembled  in  London  for  the 
avowed  purpose  of  promoting  the  universal  abolition  of  slav 
ery  and  the  slave-trade.  It  was  signed  by  the  venerable 
and  illustrious  Thomas  Clarkson.  Setting  forth  the  evils  of 
slavery  and  the  slave-trade,  it  expressed  the  conviction  that 
the  only  way  to  extinguish  the  former  was  to  abolish  the  latter. 


400       EISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

It  appealed  to  the  governors  of  the  slaveholding  States  "  to 
employ  all  that  influence  and  power  with  which  Divine  Provi 
dence  had  intrusted  them  to  secure  immediate  liberty  to  the 
slave."  Recognizing  the  brotherhood  of  man,  and  the  bind 
ing  obligations  of  Christianity,  it  addressed  its  appeals  to  the 
reason,  heart,  and  conscience.  By  request,  Seth  M.  Gates, 
then  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  at  Washing 
ton,  forwarded  these  circulars,  under  his  own  frank,  to  the 
governors  thus  addressed.  Governor  Pennington  of  New 
Jersey,  Speaker  of  the  House  at  the  opening  of  the  Rebellion, 
to  whom  the  circular  had  been  sent,  slavery  not  being  then  quite 
extinct  in  his  State,  acknowledged,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Gates, 
the  importance  of  the  principles  therein  enunciated,  and  ex 
pressed  his  earnest  desire  that  the  country,  at  the  earliest  day, 
should  join  hand  in  hand  with  the  humane  on  the  other  side 
of  the  water  "  in  washing  out  the  stain  upon  her  national 
character." 

But  the  governors  of  the  Southern  States  professed  to  be 
greatly  exasperated.  Some  of  them  made  communications  to 
their  legislatures,  denouncing  the  circular  as  incendiary  and 
calculated  to  excite  slaves  to  insurrection.  Among  those  who 
denounced  the  circular,  and  especially  the  action  of  Mr.  Gates, 
was  James  K.  Polk,  Governor  of  Tennessee,  and  four  years 
afterward  elected  President  of  the  United  States.  He  was  ac 
customed  to  carry  the  envelope  with  him  at  the  hustings,  and 
to  exhibit  the  frank  of  the  "  treasonable  "  member  of  Congress, 
who  was  endeavoring,  he  averred,  to  excite  slaves  to  insurrec 
tion.  He  declared,  too,  that  the  contents  'of  the  circular  were 
too  wicked  to  be  read  in  public.  For  franking  this  circular 
Mr.  Gates  was  roundly  denounced,  and  a  reward  of  five  hun 
dred  dollars  was  offered  by  a  wealthy  Georgia  slaveholder 
for  his  delivery  at  Savannah.  Such  were  the  feelings  which 
then  swayed  the  Southern  people,  colored  all  their  opinions,  and 
gave  direction  to  all  their  conduct.  This  was  specially  mani 
fest  in  the  debates  on  the  Quintuple  and  Ashburton  treaties. 

From  the  year  1806  England  had  sought  the  active  co-opera 
tion  of  the  United  States  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave-trade  ; 
but  these  efforts  were  unavailing.  The  American  government 


THE  ASHBURTON  TREATY.  401 

kept  in  the  African  waters  only  the  inadequate  force  of  two  or 
three  small  vessels.  It  also  steadily  refused  to  consent  to  any 
arrangement  for  the  right  of  mutual  visitation  and  search  ; 
and  the  American  flag,  even  by  the  acknowledgment  of  Mr. 
Stevenson,  minister  to  the  Court  of  St.  James,  was  prostituted 
by  the  slave  pirates  of  all  nationalities  to  cover  their  nefarious 
trade. 

The  leading  European  powers  seeking  the  entire  extirpation 
of  the  infamous  traffic,  a  treaty  was  formed  on  the  20th  of 
December,  1841,  between  Great  Britain,  Austria,  France,  Prus 
sia,  and  Russia,  for  the  complete  suppression  of  the  African 
slave-trade.  It  was  called  the  Quintuple  Treaty.  It  provided 
that  certain  cruisers  belonging  to  those  countries  should  be  in 
structed  to  visit  and  detain  within  certain  specified  limits  mer 
chant  vessels  of  the  other  contracting  parties,  suspected  of 
being  engaged  in  the  unlawful  commerce,  and  to  co-operate 
with  each  other  for  its  complete  suppression.  This  treaty  ex 
cited  much  interest  in  the  United  States,  on  whose  government, 
it  was  believed,  the  high  contracting  parties  would  exert  their 
moral  power  in  an  attempt  to  persuade  it  to  join  the  effort. 

But  there  was  existing  in  this  country  a  traditional  distrust 
of  England  and  dislike  of  her  policy  in  regard  to  the  right  of 
search,  which  had  been  intensified  by  the  war  of  1812,  and 
in  which  the  whole  country  largely  shared.  The  slaveholders, 
irritated,  if  not  alarmed,  by  the  position  of  England  on  the 
question  of  slavery,  shrewdly  seized  upon  this  American  jeal 
ousy  as  a  potent  agency  in  their  attempts  to  defeat  the  treaty. 
General  Cass,  then  minister  to  France,  protested,  and  prepared 
a  pamphlet  against  its  ratification.  Nor  is  there  much  doubt 
that  his  influence  and  efforts  aided  the  Anti-British  party,  which 
was  then  large  and  active,  in  securing  its  defeat. 

On  the  9th  of  August,  1842,  what  is  known  as  the  Ashbur- 
ton  Treaty  was  signed  at  Washington.  Among  its  provisions 
was  one  that  the  United  States  should  keep  a  force  of  eighty 
guns,  requiring  about  a  thousand  men,  on  the  coast  of  Africa, 
for  the  suppression  of  the  slave-trade.  This  provision  was 
bitterly  assailed  in  Congress,  and  strenuous  efforts  were  made  to 
defeat  it.  Mr.  Benton  took  the  lead  in  this  attempt,  mingling 

51 


402       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

argument,  denunciation,  and  sarcasm  in  his  opposition.  He 
spoke  of  it  as  madness  and  folly,  —  "a  roaming  philanthropy  " 
that  had  taken  the  negroes  of  Africa  for  objects  of  protection. 
He  characterized  the  President's  message  accompanying  the 
treaty  as  "  a  mass  of  ambiguities  and  obscurities."  The  meas 
ure,  he  said,  appeared  to  be  an  American  proposition,  but  he 
denounced  it  as  certainly  a  British  proposition  ;  "  it  is  certainly 
a  British  proposition  "  that  yokes  America  with  England  on 
the  coast  of  Africa.  He  afterward  avowed  his  purpose  to  de 
feat  all  appropriations  for  the  African  squadron ;  for  it  was,  he 
said,  a  tribute  in  men,  money,  and  ships  to  England  for  five 
years'  exemption  from  British  search.  The  speech  was  a  bitter 
and  malignant  assault  upon  England,  and  little  creditable  to 
its  author  either  on  the  score  of  statesmanship  or  good  feeling, 
its  insinuations  having  been  proved  to  be  unfounded,  and  its 
prophecies  remaining  unfulfilled. 

Mr.  Buchanan  also  joined  in  the  opposition,  and  if  his  de 
nunciations  were  less  extravagant,  they  were  equally  decided 
and  unequivocal.  Concerning  the  article  providing  for  a  naval 
force  on  the  African  coast,  he  complained  that  they  were  com 
pelled  to  grope  their  way,  and  that  "  all  was  obscurity,  all  was 
darkness."  "  Did  the  British  government,"  he  inquired,  "  de 
mand  this  sacrifice  at  our  hands  ?  Was  it  necessary  to  appease 
the  wounded  pride  of  England  at  the  disappointment  she  ex 
perienced  when  France,  our  ancient  and  faithful  ally,  refused 
to  ratify  the  Quintuple  Treaty  and  identified  herself  with  us 
in  resisting  the  right  of  visitation  and  search  ?  "  He  said  the 
ratification  of  the  treaty  would  be  to  ratify  the  unjust  claim 
of  the  British  government  to  be  "  the  supreme  protector  of 
the  rights  of  humanity." 

The  treaty  was  also  bitterly  assailed  by  Mr.  Conrad  of 
Louisiana,  afterward  a  member  of  Mr.  Fillmore's  cabinet,  and 
an  actor  in  the  slaveholders'  rebellion.  The  executive  com 
mittee  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society,  fearing  that  one 
of  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  would  endanger  the  safety  of 
the  colored  people  of  Canada,  many  of  whom  were  fugitives 
from  slavery,  appointed  a  committee  to  wait  upon  Lord  Ash- 
burton  to  confer  with  him  upon  the  subject.  He  assured  them 


THE  ASHBURTON  TREATY.  403 

that  he  had  taken  every  precaution  in  behalf  of  the  people  of 
color ;  and  that,  if  he  had  been  willing  to  introduce  an  arti 
cle  providing  for  the  payment  of  escaping  slaves,  it  would  not 
have  been  ratified  at  home,  as  his  government  was  especially 
solicitous  to  guard  all  such  rights  against  infringement.  Mr. 
Conrad  referred  to  this  conference  as  evidence  of  a  connection 
between  the  Abolitionists  of  Great  Britain  and  of  this  country. 
Nor  did  he  think  that  peace  could  be  permanent  so  long  as  these 
agitating  questions  remained  unsettled.  He  thought,  indeed, 
that  the  forbearance  of  this  government  would  increase  the  in 
tolerance  of  Great  Britain.  "  She  will,"  he  said,  "  unfurl  the 
banner  of  abolition  still  more  conspicuously  before  the  eyes  of 
your  slaves ;  she  will  accustom  them  to  consider  her  as  their 
benefactor,  the  champion  of  their  rights,  the  avenger  of  their 
wrongs.  And  when  war  does  come,  as  come  it  will,  she  may 
then  hope  to  realize  her  threat  of  being  welcomed  by  them  as 
their  deliverer,  and  her  flag,  when  it  appears,  becoming  the 
signal  of  a  servile  insurrection."  Other  members  of  Congress 
and  a  portion  of  the  press  joined  in  denouncing  this  provision 
of  the  treaty  as  a  surrender  of  American  rights,  an  annual 
tribute,  "  a  prostration  of  the  interests  and  rights  of  American 
citizens,  and  a  dishonor  to  the  American  name."  The  treaty, 
however,  notwithstanding  this  violent  opposition,  was  ratified, 
receiving  the  strong  vote  of  thirty-nine  to  nine. 

Nor  was  failure  all.  The  men  and  presses  who  stood  forth 
so  prominent  and  so  violent  in  opposition  gained  little  credit 
by  their  factious  course.  Many  saw  their  true  character,  but 
none  more  fitly  described  them  than  Rufus  Choate,  who  spoke 
of  them  as  "  restless,  selfish,  reckless, '  the  cankers  of  a  calm 
world  and  a  long  peace,'  pining  with  thirst  of  notoriety,  slaves 
to  their  hatred  of  England,  to  whom  the  treaty  is  distasteful ; 
to  whom  any  treaty  and  all  things  but  the  glare  and  clamor, 
the  vain  pomp  and  hollow  circumstance,  the  toil  and  agony 
and  inadequate  results  of  war,  —  all  but  those  would  be  distaste 
ful  and  dreary." 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

DISSENSION    AMONG   THE   ABOLITIONISTS.  —  DISRUPTION    OF  THE 
AMERICAN   ANTISLAVERY   SOCIETY. 

Increase  of  the  Abolitionists.  — Dissensions.  — New  York  Abolitionists  vote  foi 
Seward.  —  Opposition  of  Mr.  Goodell.  —  New  Party  proposed  by  Mr.  Smith. 

—  Action  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society.  —  Young  Men's  Antislav- 
ery  State  Convention  at  Worcester.  —  Resolution.  —  Political  Action.  —  The 
Woman  Question.  —  Pastoral  Letter.  —  New  England  Convention.  —  Protest 
of  Mr.  Torrey.  —Memorial  to  the  Churches.  —Action  of  the  Rhode  Island 
Consociation.  —  Churches  and  Ministers.  —  The  Abolitionists.  —  Controversy 
between  the  Massachusetts  and  National  Antislavery  Societies.  —  Opinion  of 
Mr.  Birney.  —  Sixth  Anniversary.  —  The  Woman  Question.  —  New  England 
Antislavery  Convention.  —  Massachusetts  Abolition  Society.  —  Address  of  the 
Society.  —  Bitter  Controversy.  —  Financial  Action.  —  Proposition  to  dissolve 
the  American  Antislavery  Society. — Sale  of  the  "Emancipator."  —  Seventh 
Anniversary  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society.  —  Rights  of  Woman  con 
ceded.  —  Disruption.  —  American  and  Foreign  Antislavery  Society  organized. 

—  Both  Societies  appeal  to  the  Public. 

THE  imperious  demands  of  the  South,  summoning  the  peo 
ple  of  the  North  to  surrender  the  moral  right  of  discussing 
slavery  and  the  issues  growing  out  of  its  existence  ;  the  threats 
to  imbrue  their  hands  in  the  blood  of  all  Abolitionists  who 
should  set  their  feet  on  Southern  soil ;  the  violent  denuncia 
tions  of  Northern  meetings,  bringing  upon  antislavery  men  not 
only  words  of  sternest  condemnation  but  acts  of  personal  vio 
lence  ;  the  denial  of  the  right  of  petition  and  of  freedom  of 
debate  in  Congress,  —  did  not  quench  the  zeal  nor  silence  the 
voice  of  the  men  who  had  consecrated  themselves  to  the  work 
of  emancipation.  There  was  no  faltering  in  their  ranks. 
These  devoted  men  calmly  and  firmly  met  the  issues  imposed 
upon  them.  They  realized,  as  the  storms  of  denunciation  beat 
upon  their  heads,  that  slavery  was  a  crime  never  to  be  toler 
ated  in  silence. 


DISSENSION  AMONG  THE  ABOLITIONISTS.  405 

In  the  third  annual  report  of  the  American  Antislavery  So 
ciety,  in  May,  1836,  they  proclaimed  to  the  country  that  the 
field  before  them  was  one  of  certain  conquest.  Admitting 
that  every  inch  of  the  way  was  to  be  fought  through  odium 
and  proscription,  that  they  might  suffer  far  more  reproach 
and  violence  than  they  had  yet  experienced,  that  even  death 
itself  might  come  to  them,  they  proclaimed  the  strength  of 
their  cause  to  be  in  the  blessing  of  that  God  who  hath  chosen 
the  weak  things  of  this  world  to  confound  the  mighty. 

Nor  were  they  less  hopeful  and  confident  at  the  fourth  and 
fifth  anniversary  meetings  of  the  national  society.  Their  fifth 
annual  report,  of  May,  1838,  closes  with  the  declaration  that 
in  the  prosecution  of  the  cause  of  human  liberty  by  truth  and 
brotherly  love  they  could  never  tire  nor  doubt  of  success. 
"  Our  victory,"  they  say,  "  is  no  less  sure  than  the  laws  of 
seed-time  and  harvest ;  and,  though  tears  may  mingle  with  the 
seed  which  is  now  scattered  amidst  the  frosts  and  snows  of 
retiring  winter,  the  sheaves  shall  yet  be  brought  home  with 
shouts  of  unmingled  joy  and  the  sunshine  of  unclouded 
peace." 

At  this  anniversary  meeting  Edmund  Quincy  proclaimed 
their  warfare  to  be  no  wild  crusade,  but  a  holy  war,  a  sacred 
strife  ;  waged  not  with  arms  forged  by  human  hands  or  tem 
pered  in  earthly  fire,  "  but  with  weapons  fresh  from  the  armory 
of  God.  In  this  contest  the  green  hills  of  our  land  are 
crowned  with  no  mimic  volcanoes,  sending  up  from  their  sum 
mits  smoke  and  flame  toward  heaven,  and  pouring  down  their 
slopes  lava-streams  of  hideous  death.  The  kingdom  for  which 
we  struggle  and  where  we  strive  is  an  invisible  kingdom,  —  its 
foundations  are  laid  in  the  hearts  and  souls  of  men.  It  is  an 
empire  whose  limits  reach  beyond  the  flaming  walls  of  the 
universe,  its  heights  reach  up  to  heaven,  its  depths  descend  to 
hell,  its  origin  is  derived  from  God,  its  destiny  is  infinite,  its 
duration  eternal.  And  what  are  the  weapons  which  we  wield 
in  this  heavenly  conflict?  Prayer,  which  takes  heaven  by 
storm  ;  faith,  which  grasps  the  palm  of  victory  ere  the  battle 
is  begun  ;  the  Word  of  God,  which  makes  straight  the  way  to 
triumph,  —  which  fills  up  the  valleys  and  brings  low  the  moun- 


406        EISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

tains  which  obstruct  our  march.  Clothed  in  this  panoply,  let 
us  press  onward  to  the  rescue  of  our  captive  brethren,  cheer 
ful  in  the  certainty  of  success,  invincible  in  the  justice  of  our 
cause,  strong  in  the  presence  of  the  Lord.  And  at  last  may 
our  voices  help  to  swell  the  triumphant  shout,  bursting  from 
millions  of  hearts  on  earth,  and  answered  from  the  battle 
ments  of  heaven,  which  shall  proclaim  that  the  victory  is  won, 
that  the  slave  is  free  !  " 

In  these  glowing  expressions  of  trust  in  God,  faith  in  moral 
power,  and  confidence  in  a  peaceful  triumph,  Mr.  Quincy  but 
echoed  the  sentiments  of  the  noble  men  and  women  assembled 
at  that  anniversary,  and  of  the  leaders  of  the  antislavery  cause 
throughout  the  land.  Little  did  he  or  they  foresee,  when  he 
gave  utterance  to  these  hopes  of  a  peaceful  triumph  for  their 
sacred  cause,  that  the  heart  of  the  nation  would  be  so  hard 
ened  and  its  passions  so  inflamed  by  slavery,  in  its  struggle  for 
dominion,  that,  a  quarter  of  a  century  afterward,  the  green 
hills  of  the  land  would  be  crowned  by  flaming  batteries  and 
her  fields  drenched  in  the  blood  of  embattled  hosts,  and  that 
the  liberty  of  the  slave  would  be  proclaimed  amid  the  darken 
ing  storms  of  civil  war. 

But  in  spite  of  the  stern  and  relentless  opposition  encoun 
tered  by  the  Abolitionists,  they  increased  in  numbers,  in 
fluence,  and  power.  In  consequence,  however,  of  that  in 
crease,  diversities  of  opinion  began  to  appear.  These  became 
more  and  more  marked  and  defined,  dissensions  arose,  and 
divisions  speedily  followed. 

Nor  were  these  dissensions  and  divisions  a  matter  of  sur 
prise.  When  the  New  England  Antislavery  Society  was  organ 
ized,  its  members  united  in  declaring  themselves  in  favor  of 
using  all  means  sanctioned  by  law,  humanity,  and  religion,  to 
effect  the  abolition  of  slavery.  The  National  Antislavery  So 
ciety  began  its  existence  by  proclaiming  that  the  highest  obli 
gation  rested  upon  Abolitionists  to  remove  slavery  by  moral 
and  political  action.  Few  in  numbers,  with  their  eyes  intently 
fixed  on  the  crime  and  wrongs  of  slavery,  and  the  pressing 
necessity  of  immediate  abolition,  they  were  fora  time  united  in 
sentiment,  feeling,  and  purpose.  As  their  numbers  increased 


DISSENSION   AMONG   THE   ABOLITIONISTS.  407 

and  they  began  to  consider  the  problem  of  emancipation  as 
a  practical  measure,  more  difficulties  revealed  themselves. 
These  difficulties,  while  they  intensified  feeling  and  inspired 
zeal  and  courage,  were  little  calculated  to  secure  unity  of 
thought  or  harmony  of  action.  Men  who,  under  these  un 
toward  circumstances,  accepted  the  unpopular  doctrine  of 
immediate  abolition,  and  entered  upon  the  self-sacrificing  work 
it  imposed,  were  not  generally  the  men  to  yield  to  the  dictates 
of  committees  or  the  decrees  of  conventions.  The  very  ele 
ments  of  character  which  made  them  reformers  rendered  them 
positive,  sometimes  dogmatic  and  impracticable.  Generally 
with  strong  conscientious  convictions,  marked  individuality, 
and  not  infrequent  idiosyncrasies  of  character,  they  did  not 
always  wisely  discriminate  between  the  essentials  and  non- 
essentials  of  the  conflict.  Some  looked  chiefly  to  moral, 
others  to  political  action  ;  some  to  ecclesiastical,  and  others  to 
governmental  agencies.  Meeting  opposition  where  they  had 
too  confidently  anticipated  aid,  some  left  churches  and  par 
ties,  and  strove  to  found  those  of  a  purer  and  more  legitimate 
character  ;  while  others  disowned  them  altogether,  adopting 
loose  and  disorganizing  opinions  concerning  all  governments 
and  ecclesiastical  institutions.  Others  still  —  a  few,  indeed 
—  entertained  the  wildest  vagaries  and  the  most  fantastic  no 
tions,  and  burdened  the  cause  by  giving  occasion  to  those  who 
were  glad  to  find  it  an  opportunity  to  associate  their  extrava 
gances  with  the  true  issue. 

Many  things  conspired  to  develop  these  dissensions  and  dif 
ferences,  which  began  to  manifest  themselves  in  1838  with 
painful  distinctness.  Chief  among  these  was  the  question  of 
exercising  the  right  of  suffrage.  In  the  annual  report  of  the 
American  Antislavery  Society  for  that  year,  signed  by  James 
G.  Birney,  Elizur  Wright,  Jr.,  and  Henry  B.  Stan  ton,  corre 
sponding  secretaries,  the  declaration  was  made  that  Abolition 
ists  should  inquire  into  the  sentiments  of  candidates  for  office, 
and  that  he  was  unworthy  the  name  of  an  Abolitionist  who 
did  not  put  the  antislavery  qualification  above  all  others  in 
selecting  candidates  to  receive  his  vote.  This  duty  was  em 
phatically  declared  to  be  vital  to  the  cause.  In  the  autumn  of 


408        RISE   AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

the  same  year,  many  Abolitionists  in  Central  and  Western 
New  York  gave  their  votes  for  William  H.  Seward  for  gover 
nor.  These  antislavery  men  had  been  trained  in  the  Whig 
party.  They  were  not  ignorant  of  Mr.  Seward's  real  feelings 
and  sentiments,  although  his  answers  to  their  questionings  had 
not  been  on  all  points  satisfactory.  Entertaining  the  idea  that 
his  election  over  Governor  Marcy,  whose  adverse  opinions  had 
been  clearly  pronounced  and  unequivocal,  and  whose  action 
had  been  exceedingly  offensive,  would  contribute  largely,  as  it 
certainly  did,  to  the  development  of  opposition  to  the  Slave 
Power,  they  cast  their  suffrages  for  him.  But  this  action  was 
deeply  regretted  by  many  Abolitionists,  and  stoutly  opposed 
by  some  of  the  leading  antislavery  men  in  that  section,  espe 
cially  by  William  Goodell,  editor  of  the  "  Friend  of  Man,"  at 
Utica,  and  by  Gerrit  Smith. 

Not  a  little  discouraged  by  this  demonstration,  Mr.  Smith 
proposed  a  new  antislavery  organization,  whose  constitution 
and  laws  should  require  antislavery  men  not  to  vote  for  those 
men  who  refuse  to  avow  their  belief  in  the  duty  of  immediate 
deliverance  from  the  yoke  of  slavery.  He  thought  that,  if 
such  an  organization  was  formed,  the  old  antislavery  societies, 
like  the  wine-tolerating  temperance  societies,  would  speedily 
fall,  and  that  it  would  be  understood  that  a  member  of  an 
antislavery  society  would,  under  no  circumstances,  "  vote  for  a 
slaveholder,  or  a  slaveholder's  apologist."  He  thought,  too, 
that  members  of  the  new  society,  unlike  the  old  ones,  would 
act  in  concert  with  each  other.  These  suggestions  were  ac 
cepted  by  many  who  saw  that  the  antislavery  cause  demanded 
political  action,  and  who  were  dissatisfied  with  the  existing 
society. 

But  the  great  body  of  Abolitionists  regretted  and  resisted 
that  movement.  The  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society  de 
nied  the  competency  of  any  antislavery  organization,  either  by 
its  votes  or  through  its  organs,  to  arraign  the  political  or  re 
ligious  views  of  its  members.  It  denied  their  right  to  insist 
that  it  was  the  duty  of  any  Abolitionist  to  go  to  the  ballot-box 
or  unite  with  any  church.  It  admitted  that  there  were  con 
flicting  opinions  entertained  by  Abolitionists  on  these  points, 


DISSENSION  AMONG   THE   ABOLITIONISTS..  409 

but  strenuously  maintained  that  "  all  that  a  society  or  its  organs 
may  rightfully  do  is  to  entreat  its  members  to  abide  by  their 
principles,  whether  in  the  church  or  out  of  it,  at  the  polls  or 
elsewhere  ;  to  vote  for  no  man  who  is  not  in  favor  of  immedi 
ate  emancipation  ;  to  listen  to  no  preacher  who  apologizes  for 
slavery."  Believing  that  such  an  organization  would  present 
no  new  motive  for  action,  and  advance  no  new  principles  ;  that 
it  would  wear  a  political,  rather  than  a  moral  aspect ;  and  that 
existing  antislavery  societies  were  slowly  but  surely  effecting 
great  and  salutary  changes  both  in  Church  and  State,  it 
announced  its  opposition  to  the  adoption  "  of  a  doubtful  and 
untried  experiment." 

Early  in  October  of  that  year,  while  this  division  of  senti 
ment  and  action  was  in  progress  in  Central  and  Western  New 
York,  a  Young  Men's  Antislavery  Convention,  consisting  of 
more  than  four  hundred  delegates,  met  in  the  city  of  Worces 
ter,  Massachusetts.  The  convention  was  called  to  order  by 
Oliver  Johnson,  and  was  presided  over  by  George  T.  Davis, 
then  a  young  lawyer  and  rising  politician  of  Franklin  County, 
who  early  accepted  antislavery  sentiments,  but  whose  adher 
ence  did  not  long  withstand  the  claims  of  his  political  associa 
tions.  This  body,  of  which  nearly  all  the  leading  Abolitionists 
were  members,  adopted  a  series  of  resolutions  drawn  by  Wil 
liam  Goodell.  It  unanimously  declared  by  a  rising  vote  that 
by  the  grace  of  God  no  motive  of  political  expediency  or  par 
tisan  interest,  of  personal  friendship  or  any  other  considera 
tion,  should  tempt  them  to  vote  for  slavery  by  voting  for  a 
member  of  the  national  or  State  legislatures  who  would  not  go 
to  the  utmost  verge  of  constitutional  power  for  its  abolition. 
This  body  pledged  all  who  held  it  proper  in  any  case  to  exer 
cise  the  right  of  suffrage  never  to  neglect  any  opportunity  to 
record  their  vote  against  slavery.  This  decided  action  of  the 
Worcester  convention,  the  action  in  Western  New  York,  the 
proposition  of  Gerrit  Smith  for  the  reorganization  of  antislav 
ery  societies,  and  the  address  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery 
Society  revealed  the  unquestionable  fact  that  the  largest  por 
tion  of  the  Abolitionists  believed  in  political  action  in  some 
form. 

52 


410        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN   AMERICA. 

Nevertheless,  a  small  but  active  portion  of  the  Abolitionists, 
mostly  in  New  England,  more  or  less  tinctured  with  the  non- 
resistant  theories,  were  opposed  to  the  exercise  of  the  right  of 
suffrage.  Abjuring  all  resort  to  force,  on  which  governments 
necessarily  rest,  they,  by  logical  sequence,  declined  the  use  of 
the  ballot.  Though  undoubtedly  conscientious  in  their  course, 
they  not  only  yielded  up  an  element  of  power,  potent  in  a  gov 
ernment  resting  on  the  will  and  votes  of  the  people,  which 
they  had  no  right  to  relinquish,  but  by  so  doing  they  weakened 
their  own  effective  influence  upon  the  people,  however  truthful, 
earnest,  and  vivid  were  their  delineations  of  slavery  and  their 
arraignments  of  the  Slave  Power. 

Another  question  on  which  the  Abolitionists  divided  was 
what  is  familiarly  called  the  "  woman  question."  Women 
early  espoused  the  antislavery  cause.  They  were  not  at  first 
either  officers  or  members  of  the  national  or  State  societies ; 
but,  organizing  associations  of  their  own,  they  entered  upon 
their  work  with  zeal  and  effectiveness.  Several  ladies  who  had 
spoken  at  meetings  of  their  own  sex  with  much  acceptance, 
afterward  addressed  promiscuous  assemblies.  Some  earnest 
antislavery  men,  however,  doubted  its  propriety ;  while  pro- 
slavery  individuals  and  presses  condemned  it.  This  voice  of 
remonstrance  found  expressive  utterance  in  the  Pastoral  Let 
ter  of  the  Massachusetts  Association  of  Congregational  Minis 
ters,  in  the  year  1837.  In  this  letter  very  special  mention  was 
made  of  the  Misses  Grimke',  Quaker  ladies  from  South  Caro 
lina,  who  had  been  slaveholders,  had  emancipated  their  slaves, 
and,  having  warmly  espoused  the  cause  of  emancipation,  were 
addressing  delighted  auditories  in  the  Northern  States. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  New  England  Antislavery  Con 
vention  in  1838,  which  was  attended  by  delegates  from  eleven 
States,  it  was  voted  that  all  persons  present,  whether  men  or 
women,  who  agreed  with  the  convention  on  the  subject  of  slav 
ery  should  be  invited  to  become  members,  and  participate  in  its 
proceedings.  A  motion  to  rescind  this  vote,  after  a  long  and 
animated  discussion,  failed  by  a  large  majority.  Eight  clergy 
men  immediately  arose  and  desired  that  their  names  should  be 
stricken  from  the  roll  of  the  convention.  A  protest  was  drawn 


DISSENSION  AMONG   THE   ABOLITIONISTS.  411 

up  and  signed  by  Charles  T.  Torrey,  Amos  A.  Phelps,  and  five 
others,  against  this  action  of  the  convention.  They  pronounced 
it  injurious  to  the  cause  of  the  slave,  by  connecting  with  it  a 
subject  foreign  to  it ;  by  establishing  the  precedent  of  connect 
ing  with  it  other  and  irrelevant  topics ;  and  by  being  an  inno 
vation  on  former  usages.  They  therefore  disclaimed  all  re 
sponsibility  for  it.  This  decision  of  the  convention  excited 
much  interest  and  caused  no  little  ill  feeling. 

Three  persons  were  appointed  by  the  convention  —  one  of 
them  Miss  Abby  Kelley,  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends 
—  as  a  committee  to  prepare  a  memorial  to  the  ecclesiastical 
associations  of  New  England,  beseeching  them  to  testify  against 
the  slave  system.  This  memorial  was  drawn  with  great  care, 
was  respectful  in  form,  and  in  no  way  infringed  upon  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  any  ecclesiastical  association.  It  earnestly 
called  upon  the  ecclesiastical  bodies  of  New  England  in  the 
name  of  God  to  remember  them  in  bonds  as  bound  with  them, 
and  entreated  them  to  act  as  the  great  interests  of  humanity 
and  Christ's  kingdom  demanded. 

When  this  memorial  was  presented  to  the  Rhode  Island 
Congregational  Consociation,  and  it  became  known  that  a 
woman  was  a  member  of  the  committee  that  drafted  it,  a  scene 
of  intense  excitement  arose.  Members  hastened  to  quote 
Scripture  against  this  action  of  women  ;  others,  who  were  will 
ing  at  first  to  receive  the  memorial  and  act  upon  it,  on  learn 
ing  that  a  woman  was  upon  the  committee  that  drafted  it, 
"united,"  said  the  editor  of  the  "  Christian  Mirror,"  who  was 
present,  "  at  once  in  turning  the  illegitimate  product  from  the 
house,  and  in  obliterating  from  the  record  all  traces  of  its 
entrance/' 

This  action  of  an  association  of  New  England  clergymen 
seems,  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events  and  change  of  public 
sentiment,  narrow  and  bigoted,  trivial  and  weak.  But  there 
can  be  no  question  that  this  controversy  in  the  antislavery 
ranks  influenced  to  a  considerable  extent  a  large  number  of 
clergymen.  The  "  Emancipator,"  the  organ  of  the  American 
Antislavery  Society,  referring  to  the  fact  that  a  few  months 
previous  it  seemed  as  if  the  mass  of  the  clergy  were  ready  to 


412       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

drop  their  hostility  to  the  antislavery  cause  and  come  in  to  its 
support,  expressed  the  fear  that  many  of  the  ministers  of  the 
gospel  were  "  settling  down  into  a  fixed  hatred  of  the  princi 
ples  of  liberty,  and  fixed  determination,  at  any  hazard,  to 
maintain  the  lawfulness  of  slavery,  and  the  criminality  of 
efforts  for  its  removal.  They  are  evincing  a  readiness  to 
abandon  any  principle,  to  impugn  any  doctrine,  to  violate  any 
obligation,  to  outrage  any  feeling,  to  sacrifice  any  interest,  here 
tofore  held  dear  or  sacred,  if  it  be  found  to  afford  countenance 
or  strength  to  antislavery." 

The  "  Liberator  "  had  been  established  by  Mr.  Garrison,  was 
under  his  exclusive  control,  and,  of  course,  expressed  his  views. 
In  the  exercise  of  his  prerogative  he  uttered  and  admitted  sen 
timents  to  which  a  large  number  of  Abolitionists  did  not  sub 
scribe.  While  he  did  not  claim  that  these  views  were  any  part 
of  the  antislavery  creed,  and  did  not  insist  that  antislavery 
men  should  accept  them  as  such,  still  the  public  mind  did, 
more  or  less,  associate  the  sentiments  enunciated  in  his  journal 
with  the  cause  of  abolition.  Many  antislavery  men,  too,  deem 
ing  them  injurious  not  only  to  interests  they  regarded  impor 
tant  and  sacred,  but  also  to  the  cause  itself,  desired  the  estab 
lishment  of  a  new  journal.  The  "  Abolitionist,"  under  the 
editorial  charge  of  Elizur  Wright,  Jr.,  was  therefore  established, 
in  the  spring  of  1839,  in  the  city  of  Boston. 

A  controversy  had  arisen  between  the  managers  of  the 
American  and  Massachusetts  antislavery  societies.  Owing  to 
the  financial  distress  of  the  country,  the  failure  of  the  Tap- 
pans,  who  had  been  large  contributors  themselves,  and  who 
had  been  greatly  instrumental  in  securing  contributions  from 
others,  and  the  growing  distrust,  dissensions,  and  divisions 
among  Abolitionists,  the  receipts  of  the  national  and  associate 
societies  did  not  keep  pace  with  their  necessities.  Objection 
was  made  by  the  State  associations  to  the  sen  ding  of  collecting 
agents  into  their  respective  limits  by  the  national  society.  An 
arrangement  had  been  entered  into  between  the  national  and 
Massachusetts  societies  by  which  ten  thousand  dollars  were  to 
be  paid  into  the  treasury  of  the  former  by  the  latter.  The 
Massachusetts  Society,  however,  failed  to  redeem  its  pledge. 


DISRUPTION   OF   THE   AMERICAN  ANTISLAVERY   SOCIETY.      413 

This  failure  intensified  somewhat  the  feeling  of  distrust  which 
had  already  unfortunately  begun  to  manifest  itself.  The  ex 
ecutive  committee  at  New  York  notified  the  Massachusetts 
Society  that  it  should  send  collecting  agents  into  that  State. 
This  decision  excited  much  feeling,  and  Mr.  Chapman,  the 
treasurer  of  the  State  society,  was  sent  to  protest  against  that 
action,  and  secure,  if  possible,  some  amicable  arrangement. 

At  the  quarterly  meeting,  held  in  March,  1837,  the  action 
of  the  board  of  managers  was  triumphantly  sustained.  Mr. 
Birney,  Lewis  Tappan,  and  Mr.  Stan  ton  were  present  and  vin 
dicated  the  action  of  the  national  committee.  An  excited  and 
somewhat  angry  debate  arose.  Mr.  Birney  declared  with  em 
phasis,  that,  "  if  one  whose  conscientious  scruples  led  him  to 
repudiate  the  elective  franchise  were  to  consult  him  about  join 
ing  the  American  Antislavery  Society,  he  should  be  bound  to 
tell  him  he  had  not  the  qualifications  prescribed  by  the  consti 
tution,  and,  therefore,  ought  not  to  subscribe."  This  declara 
tion,  which  would  exclude  the  come-outers  and  non-resistants 
from  membership  in  the  American  Antislavery  Society,  created 
the  deepest  feeling  in  the  bosoms  of  those  who  had  adopted 
those  theories,  and  it  sensibly  increased  the  alienation  already 
existing.  A  division  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society 
was  recommended  by  Lewis  Tappan,  who  did  not  hesitate  to 
express  the  opinion  that  the  separation  of  men  who  had  so 
little  unity  of  opinion  would  not  only  be  promotive  of  peace, 
but  of  greater  efficiency.  At  the  close  of  the  meeting  an  ap 
peal  was  made  to  the  public  by  the  board  of  managers  of  the 
Massachusetts  Society,  and  by  extraordinary  exertions  their 
pledge  was  redeemed  within  a  few  weeks. 

The  sixth  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Antislavery  So 
ciety  took  place  early  in  May,  in  the  city  of  New  York.  A 
large  number  were  in  attendance.  At  the  opening  of  the 
meeting  a  motion  was  made  for  the  appointment  of  a  commit 
tee  to  make  out  a  roll  of  delegates.  James  C.  Fuller,  a  dele 
gate  from  New  York,  an  Englishman  by  birth,  and  a  member 
of  the  Society  of  Friends,  remarked  that  there  were  some  be 
loved  sisters  present,  and  he  wished  to  know  whether  there  was 
strength  enough  in  the  meeting  to  admit  them.  Nathaniel 


414       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

Colver,  a  Baptist  clergyman,  then  moved  that  the  roll  be  made 
out  in  the  usual  manner,  of  such  men  as  were  delegates 
or  members.  It  was  then  moved  by  Oliver  Johnson  to 
strike  out  the  word  "  men  "  and  insert  that  of  persons.  This 
amendment  led  to  a  very  long,  animated,  and  excited  debate, 
in  which  a  large  number  of  the  leading  members  of  the  con 
vention  participated.  Intimations  were  thrown  ©ut  that,  if  the 
amendment  was  sustained,  a  division  of  the  society  might  be 
the  consequence.  Mr.  Johnson's  amendment  was  then  de 
clared  adopted  ;  but,  the  ayes  and  noes  having  been  demanded 
by  Lewis  Tappan,  it  was  adopted,  as  modified  by  an  amend 
ment  of  Ellis  Gray  Loring,  by  a  large  majority.  A  protest, 
signed  by  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  delegates,  was  then 
presented  and  ordered  to  be  printed  with  the  records. 

The  Sixth  New  England  Antislavery  Convention  met  a  few 
days  afterward,  in  Boston.  At  the  opening  of  the  convention 
it  was  moved  that  all  persons  present  favorable  to  the  cause 
of  immediate  emancipation  be  invited  to  take  part  in  the  pro 
ceedings.  An  amendment  was  moved  by  Mr.  Phelps,  inviting 
all  gentlemen  present  to  take  seats.  But  this  amendment  was 
rejected  by  a  very  large  majority.  Many  delegates  then  retired 
from  the  convention,  and  then  united  in  forming  the  Massa 
chusetts  Abolition  Society.  Thus  was  consummated  a  separa 
tion  which  had  long  been  foreshadowed  by  growing  divisions 
of  sentiment  and  increasing  alienation  of  feeling.  It  was  of 
course  inevitable,  but  nevertheless  to  be  deprecated.  Before 
the  giant  evil  they  would  overthrow,  if  united,  they  were  less 
than  the  stripling  youth  of  Israel ;  in  the  presence  of  the  hos 
tile  multitude  they  were  at  best  but  a  lean  minority.  But  the 
bond  of  union  was  broken,  and  much  of  the  power  and  prow 
ess  which  should  have  borne  only  on  the  common  foe  was 
wasted  on  each  other. 

The  executive  committee  of  the  new  society  issued  an  ad 
dress  to  the  people  in  explanation  and  vindication  of  their 
action.  They  expressed  their  unspeakable  grief  at  "  the  per 
version,  in  this  State,  of  our  association  to  purposes  and  ob 
jects  not  contemplated  in  our  bond  of  union,  foreign  to  our 
original  objects,  not  necessary  to  their  attainment,  and,  in  the 


DISRUPTION   OF   THE  AMERICAN  ANTISLAVERY  SOCIETY.      415 

view  of  the  reflecting,  fatal  to  our  prospects  of  ultimate  suc 
cess."  They  charged  that  the  old  Antislavery  Society  had 
become  identified  with  the  sectarian  views  of  a  few  of  its  lead 
ing  members  ;  and  that  the  theories  of  Mr.  Garrison  about 
religion  and  government,  which  had  been  sanctioned  by  it, 
took  from  it  "  the  staff  of  accomplishment."  They  charged 
that  the  society  "  had  thrown  away  its  principles,  and  with 
them  the  staff  of  its  power."  They  declared  the  difference 
between  the  old  and  new  antislavery  organizations  to  be  that 
"  the  new  organization  proposes  to  overthrow  slavery  by  the 
use  of  means,  the  old  by  simple  truth." 

Leading  advocates  of  the  new  organization  arraigned  the 
old  society  with  great  plainness  of  speech.  Amos  A.  Phelps, 
one  of  the  earliest  and  ablest  of  the  writers,  orators,  and 
organizers  of  the  antislavery  movement,  in  resigning  his  mem 
bership  of  its  board  of  managers,  said :  "  The  society  is  no 
longer  an  antislavery  society  simply,  but  in  its  principles  and 
modes  of  action  has  become  a  woman's-rights,  non-govern 
ment,  antislavery  society."  He  avowed  his  readiness,  when 
ever  it  should  return  to  its  original  principles  and  policy,  to 
co-operate  with  it  again.  Rev.  Orange  Scott,  an  early  Aboli 
tionist,  said  that  Mr.  Garrison  and  the  members  of  the  Massa 
chusetts  Antislavery  Society  had,  during  the  past  two  years, 
done  little  but  press  their  notions  of  perfectionism,  their 
opposition  to  all  human  governments  and  institutions,  and 
crowd  forward  the  women  into  all  public  stations.  He  af 
firmed  that  the  principles  and  measures  of  himself  and  those 
with  whom  he  acted  were  the  same  as  they  were  when  they 
joined  that  society,  —  "  We  have  not  left  our  brethren  ;  they 
have  left  us."  Rev.  Alanson  St.  Clair  referred  to  the  mem 
bers  of  the  old  organization  as  "  our  women's-rights,  no-govern 
ment,  antislavery  opponents "  ;  and  Rev.  Charles  T.  Torrey 
averred  that  they  had  toiled  with  the  members  of  that  society 
as  long  as  honor  and  conscience  would  permit,  and  they  had 
separated  from  them  that  they  might  "  continue  to  assert  all 
our  original  principles  and  urge  all  our  original  measures  with 
new  zeal  and  greater  energy." 

To  these  accusations  and  others  of  like  import  the  Massa- 


416        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

chusetts  Antislavery  Society,  its  officers  and  members,  by  reso 
lutions,  reports,  addresses,  speeches,  and  presses,  interposed  a 
peremptory  and  emphatic  denial.  To  the  charge  that  it  had 
become  subservient  to  the  principles  of  non-resistance  it  de 
clared  that  it  was  not  competent  for  the  society  to  determine 
whether  they  were  right  or  wrong.  It  denied  the  right  of  any 
member  to  commit  it  to  his  peculiar  political  or  religious  views  ; 
but  he,  by  consenting  to  become  a  member,  did  not  surrender 
his  right  to  proselytize  to  the  extent  of  his  ability,  apart  from 
abolitionism,  as  a  man  or  a  Christian,  either  as  a  member  of  any 
sect  or  party,  or  as  one  who  stands  aloof  from  all  sects  or  par 
ties.  They  denied  that  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society 
had  ever  departed  from  its  original  platform,  and  they  avowed 
that  it  continued  to  maintain  that  duty  to  God  and  humanity 
required  of  its  members  fidelity  to  their  antislavery  principles 
in  whatever  sphere  they  might  be  called  to  act, — uin  the  church 
or  out  of  it,  at  the  ballot-box  or  away  from  it."  They  main 
tained,  too,  that  the  society  had  been  careful  to  abstain  from 
all  interference  with  the  disputed  question  of  woman's  sphere 
and  capacity  ;  that  they  did  not  seek  the  question,  but  that  it 
had  forced  itself  upon  them,  and  they  had  only  sought  to  deal 
with  the  question  of  the  rights  of  its  female  members  "  in  a 
practical,  inoffensive,  and  common-sense  way."  In  a  word, 
they  maintained  that  on  their  platform  all  human  beings  were 
allowed  to  meet  on  equal  terms,  and  were  required  to  "  agree 
in  nothing  but  the  inherent  sinfulness  of  slaveholding  and  the 
immediate  duty  of  letting  the  oppressed  go  free." 

The  action  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society  at  its  an 
nual  meeting  in  1839  had  greatly  impaired  its  unity  and 
influence.  Women  had  been  permitted  to  take  part  in  its 
proceedings,  though  more  than  one  third  of  its  members  had 
entered  their  protest  against  it.  A  resolution  had  been  re 
ported  by  the  business  committee,  affirming  that  the  society 
held,  as  it  had  done  from  the  beginning,  that  the  employment 
of  the  political  franchise  so  as  to  promote  the  abolition  of 
slavery  was  a  duty  Abolitionists  owed  to  their  enslaved  fellow- 
countrymen  groaning  under  legal  oppression.  An  amendment 
was  offered  by  Charles  C.  Burleigh,  to  the  effect  that  the 


DISRUPTION  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ANTISLAVERY   SOCIETY.      417 

Abolitionist  who  regards  it  his  duty  to  use  the  elective  fran 
chise,  and  who  used  it  against  or  neglected  to  use  it  for  the 
promotion  of  the  cause  of  emancipation,  was  false  to  his  own 
principles  and  clearly  failed  to  do  his  duty.  The  original 
resolution  was  sustained  by  only  a  majority  of  seven.  This 
action  of  the  society,  in  regard  to  woman's  rights  and  the 
use  of  the  ballot,  clearly  revealed  the  fact  that  radical  differ 
ences  of  opinion  were  entertained  by  its  members,  and  that 
unity  was,  if  not  impossible,  in  the  highest  degree  improbable. 
But  the  heaviest  blow  struck  against  the  efficiency  of  the  so 
ciety  was  its  action  on  the  financial  question.  Its  finance  com 
mittee  reported  in  favor  of  raising  thirty-two  thousand  dollars 
for  the  current  expenses  of  the  year  ;  but  no  action  whatever 
was  taken.  A  resolution,  however,  was  adopted,  earnestly 
inviting  the  executive  committee  not  to  send  agents  into  a 
State  where  a  State  society  existed,  without  its  consent.  As 
the  State  societies  had  opposed  the  employment  of  such  agents, 
the  national  executive  committee  was  left  with  limited  means 
to  carry  forward  the  work  it  had  hitherto  prosecuted  with  so 
much  vigor  and  success. 

The  effect  of  this  action  was  soon  made  manifest.  The 
executive  committee  was  greatly  embarrassed.  In  November 
it  was  compelled  to  notify  its  agents  that  the  society  could  no 
longer  be  responsible  for  their  compensation.  A  special  meet 
ing  was  held  in  New  York,  in  January,  1840  ;  but  the  attend 
ance  was  small.  The  object  of  the  meeting  was  to  obtain  the 
removal  of  the  restrictions  upon  the  executive  committee  and 
to  supply  it  with  funds.  The  convention  sat  for  three  days 
without  any  marked  results. 

Under  circumstances  so  discouraging  some  members  of  the 
executive  committee  avowed  themselves  in  favor  of  reorganiz 
ing  or  dissolving  the  society.  Lewis  Tappan  wrote  to  several 
leading  Abolitionists  that,  as  the  executive  committee  was  vir 
tually  excluded  from  all  parts  of  the  country  for  the  collection 
of  funds,  he  despaired  of  accomplishing  anything  for  the  ad 
vancement  of  the  cause,  and  was  in  favor  of  abandoning  the 
organization,  and  of  the  appointment  of  a  central  board  or 
committee,  to  work  with  such  means  as  might  be  placed  in 

53 


418       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

their  hands.  Similar  views  were  entertained  by  others.  A 
communication  was  published  in  the  "  Emancipator "  main 
taining  that  the  American  Antislavery  Society  was  no  longer 
necessary  for  the  advancement  of  the  antislavery  cause,  that 
it  was  a  hindrance,  and  that  therefore  it  was  a  question  for 
serious  consideration  whether  it  ought  not  to  be  formally 
withdrawn.  It  was  proposed  by  the  Rev.  David  Root  that 
the  national  society  and  all  its  auxiliaries  should  be  dis 
solved,  and  that  a  board  of  commissioners,  with  powers  simi 
lar  to  those  of  the  "  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions,"  should  take  its  place.  But  this  was  pro 
nounced  essentially  defective  and  inadequate  to  the  object 
they  had  in  view. 

John  G.  Whittier,  then  editor  of  the  "  Pennsylvania  Free 
man,"  suggested  that  the  society  should  be  dissolved,  and  a 
central  committee,  representing  no  society  or  association,  but 
simply  acting  on  its  own  responsibility,  with  such  means  as  the 
confidence  of  the  public  might  intrust  to  it,  should  be  substi 
tuted  for  it.  The  reason  assigned  for  this  proposition  was  that 
the  great  object  for  which  the  machinery  of  the  society  was 
created  had  been  measurably  lost  because  it  had  failed  to 
secure  "  concert  of  action."  Dr.  Bailey,  editor  of  the  "  Phi 
lanthropist,"  concurred  in  these  views,  and  proposed  that  at 
the  next  anniversary  the  national  society  quietly  dissolve  it 
self,  so  that  the  executive  committee  could  be  left  to  labor 
when  and  where  it  pleased,  and  with  such  means  as  might 
be  placed  in  its  hands  by  uncompromising  Abolitionism.  A 
special  report,  signed  by  Mr.  Birney  and  Lewis  Tappan,  James 
S.  Gibbons  dissenting,  recommended  to  the  executive  com 
mittee  that  the  society,  at  its  next  annual  meeting,  should 
either  resume  its  whole  power  as  to  funds  or  be  formally  dis 
solved.  The  executive  committee,  declaring  its  inability  to 
continue  the  publication  of  the  "  Emancipator,"  authorized  the 
publishing  agent  to  sell  it  to  the  executive  committee  of  the 
New  York  City  Antislavery  Society,  on  condition  that  it 
should  supply  papers  to  its  "  advanced  "  subscribers  and  con 
tinue  its  publication  one  year,  under  the  charge  of  Mr.  Leavitt. 

The  deepest  interest  was  felt  and  expressed  by  Abolitionists 


DISRUPTION   OF   THE  AMERICAN  ANTISLAVERY   SOCIETY.      419 

in  all  parts  of  the  country,  especially  in  New  England,  in  the 
results  of  the  seventh  annual  meeting,  to  be  held  in  New 
York.  The  board  of  managers  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislav- 
ery  Society  issued  an  address  appealing  to  the  Abolitionists 
everywhere,  in  whatever  part  of  the  country  they  resided,  to 
rally  at  that  meeting  as  one  man.  They  were  called  upon  to 
"  frown  indignantly  on  each  and  every  attempt  to  dissolve  our 
noble  organization  into  its  original  elements,  for  the  purpose 
of  obstructing  spiritual  freedom  and  human  progress,  of  grati 
fying  personal  envy  or  ambition,  of  fostering  the  great  and  re 
lentless  enemy  of  humanity,  sectarianism."  "  If  you  would  not 
see,"  they  said,  "  our  broad  platform  in  any  degree  narrowed, 
if  you  would  preserve  it  from  the  spirit  which  is  seeking  to  dash 
it  in  fragments,  if  you  would  still  rally  under  an  antisectarian 
banner,  and  unite  with  the  wise  and  good  of  every  name  for 
the  salvation  of  your  country  and  the  deliverance  of  the  op 
pressed,  then  you  will  throng  to  the  anniversary  of  the  parent 
society  on  the  12th  of  May  next." 

On  that  day  the  delegates  assembled  in  great  numbers  in  the 
city  of  New  York.  Arthur  Tappan,  president  of  the  society, 
not  being  present,  Francis  Jackson  of  Boston,  one  of  the  vice- 
presidents,  took  the  chair.  Mrs.  Lydia  Maria  Child  was 
placed  upon  the  business  committee.  Not  being  present,  Lewis 
Tappan  suggested  that  her  place  be  supplied  by  her  husband, 
David  Lee  Child.  But  Miss  Abby  Kelley  being  appointed  in 
place  of  Mrs.  Child,  Mr.  Tappan,  Charles  W.  Denison,  and 
Amos  A.  Phelps  asked  to  be  excused  from  serving  on  the  com 
mittee.  After  a  brief  debate  the  sense  of  the  meeting  was 
taken,  and  the  appointment  of  Miss  Kelley  was  sustained  by 
more  than  a  hundred  majority  in  favor  of  the  rights  of  women 
to  take  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  society. 

In  the  evening  a  meeting  was  held  at  the  house  of  Lewis 
Tappan,  and  it  was  unanimously  agreed  that  a  division  was 
inevitable,  and  that  a  new  society  should  be  immediately  or 
ganized.  A  committee  was  appointed  of  one  from  each  State, 
of  which  Rev.  David  Thurston  of  Maine  was  chairman,  to 
draft  a  constitution.  During  the  forenoon  of  the  next  day,  by 
the  permission  of  the  presiding  officer  of  the  society,  then  in 


420        RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

session,  notice  was  given  that  a  meeting  of  those  opposed  to 
its  proceedings  would  be  held  in  the  afternoon  in  the  basement 
of  the  church  to  consider  the  expediency  of  forming  a  new  so 
ciety.  When  this  meeting  assembled,  Mr.  Tappan  was  made 
chairman.  The  proceedings  of  the  preliminary  meeting  were 
stated,  and  a  resolution  was  adopted  declaring  it  expedient  to 
form  such  a  society.  During  the  next  two  days  a  constitution 
was  adopted,  and  a  society  of  nearly  three  hundred  members, 
from  eleven  States,  was  organized.  It  adopted  as  its  name, 
The  American  and  Foreign  Antislavery  Society.  Arthur  Tap- 
pan  was  chosen  president,  James  G.  Birney  and  Henry  B. 
Stanton  secretaries,  and  Lewis  Tappan  treasurer.  A  large  ex 
ecutive  committee  was  appointed,  of  which  the  Tappans,  Mr. 
Birney,  Mr.  Stanton,  William  Jackson,  Whittier,  Gerrit  Smith, 
Judge  Jay,  Joshua  Leavitt,  Thomas  Morris,  William  H.  Bris 
bane,  Edward  Beecher,  and  many  other  prominent  Abolition 
ists,  were  members. 

An  address  was  soon  afterward  issued  by  the  president  of  the 
new  society,  in  which  the  disturbing  elements  in  the  old  organ 
ization  were  referred  to,  and  the  causes  of  separation  were  dis 
tinctly  stated.  Among  the  reasons  assigned  for  the  separation 
were  the  action  of  the  society  concerning  the  admission  of 
women  to  take  part  in  its  proceedings,  and  the  non-resistant 
and  no-government  views  of  a  portion  of  its  members.  The 
former  it  declared  to  be  an  innovation  that  seemed  "  repugnant 
to  the  constitution  of  the  society,"  "  a  firebrand  in  antislavery 
meetings,"  which  was  "  contrary  to  the  usages  of  the  civilized 
world,"  and  which  "  tended  to  destroy  the  efficiency  of  female 
antislavery  action."  Concerning  the  latter,  it  maintained  that, 
though  at  its  formation  "  the  lawfulness  of  human  government 
was  recognized,  and  it  was  a  fundamental  principle  that  politi 
cal  action  was  both  expedient  and  proper,"  the  same  persons 
who  were  contending  for  the  civil  and  political  equality  of 
women  with  men  "  deny  the  obligation  of  forming,  supporting, 
or  yielding  obedience  to  civil  government,  and  refuse  to  affirm 
the  duty  of  political  action."  Avowing  that  the  members  of 
the  new  society  recognized  the'"  rightfulness  of  government," 
and  "  urge  political  action  as  a  duty,"  it  affirmed  that  it  would 


DISKUPTION   OF   THE  AMERICAN  ANTISLAVERY  SOCIETY.      421 

not  denounce  those  "  as  recreants  "  who  might  differ  from  them 
in  regard  to  the  "  best  modes  of  action  "  ;  and  that,  so  far  as 
their  conduct  could  influence  the  future,  the  two  divisions  of 
antislavery  men  would  henceforth  plead  the  cause  of  the  slave 
without  criminating  or  recriminating  each  other.  It  declared 
that  the  purpose  of  the  convention  which  originated  the  Ameri 
can  and  Foreign  Antislavery  Society  was  not  to  enforce  uni 
formity  of  action,  subject  the  widespread  antislavery  host  to 
the  decrees  of  one  central  power,  follow  the  footsteps  of  any 
earthly  leader,  or  glorify  any  man  of  like  passions  with  them 
selves,  but  to  labor  for  the  speedy  and  peaceful  triumph  of  lib 
erty,  and  to  give  God  all  the  glory.  Commencing  its  career  with 
these  avowals  of  its  spirit  and  purposes,  and  embracing  within 
its  ranks  many  men  of  large  capacity  and  experience,  it  labored 
several  years,  and  rendered  service  to  the  cause. 

Lindley  Coates  of  Pennsylvania  was  chosen  president  of  the 
old  society.  The  vacancies  made  by  the  retiring  members 
were  filled  by  men  in  harmony  with  the  views  of  the  major 
ity.  The  **  Antislavery  Standard,"  with  its  motto,  "  Without 
concealment,  without  compromise,"  was  established  as  its 
organ  in  the  city  of  New  York,  under  the  editorial  charge  of 
Nathaniel  P.  Rogers  of  New  Hampshire,  one  of  their  most 
brilliant  and  vigorous  writers.  The  executive  committee  soon 
issued  an  address  in  reply  to  the  address  of  the  new  society, 
in  which  the  course  of  the  old  organization  was  vigorously  de 
fended,  and  the  action  of  those  who  had  seceded  was  sharply 
criticised.  This  society  continued  to  advocate  the  cause  of 
immediate  emancipation,  and  to  enunciate  the  distinctive  doc 
trines  of  that  section  of  Abolitionists  which  sustained  the 
views  of  Mr.  Garrison  until  slavery  was  abolished  by  the 
adoption  of  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States. 

The  disruption  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society,  and  the 
formation  of  the  American  and  Foreign  Antislavery  Society, 
excited  much  feeling  among  Abolitionists  in  certain  localities, 
especially  in  the  New  England  States.  Mr.  Goodell  says  of  it : 
"  While  these  divisions  produced  a  strong  sensation  in  New 
England  and  in  the  seaboard  cities,  the  sound  of  them  going 


422       RISE  AND    FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

across  the  Atlantic  and  awakening  kindred  responses  pro  and 
con  among  the  Abolitionists  of  Great  Britain,  the  blast  died 
away  like  a  Massachusetts  northeaster  as  it  travelled  westward, 
spending  its  strength  before  it  had  reached  the  Valley  of  the 
Mohawk,  and  was  scarcely  felt  beyond  the  waters  of  Lake 
Erie.'' 

At  the  time  of  the  separation  there  were  probably  two  thou 
sand  societies  in  the  country,  containing,  it  was  estimated, 
some  two  hundred  thousand  members.  They  had,  however, 
already  attained  their  maximum  of  numbers  and  influence,  and 
had  accomplished  the  largest  share  of  their  peculiar  work. 
Afterward  their  numbers  and  distinctive  labors  were  dimin 
ished,  rather  than  increased.  Various  causes  contributed  to 
produce  that  result.  Such  societies  had  lost  the  charm  of 
novelty  which  at  first  had  attracted  some  to  join  their  ranks. 
Many,  too,  had  become  disheartened  by  the  growing  magnitude 
of  the  evil  and  the  increasing  difficulties  which  revealed  them 
selves  in  the  way  of  its  overthrow.  Besides,  antislavery  ideas 
and  principles  were  finding  for  themselves  other  modes  of  ex 
pression  and  action.  While,  therefore,  these  distinctive  socie 
ties  were  declining  in  numbers  and  efficiency,  the  cause  for 
which  they  were  originally  organized  was  making  progress. 

Nevertheless  these  organizations,  with  all  their  divisions,  dis 
sensions,  and  mistakes,  rendered  essential  service.  They  were 
the  pioneers  in  the  great  work  of  emancipation.  They  were 
the  forerunners  of  this  modern  evangel  of  Liberty.  They 
sounded  the  alarm  which  awoke  the  slumbering  nation  to  its 
dangers  and  its  duties.  They  kindled  and  kept  alive  those 
fires  of  freedom  that  revealed  more  distinctly  the  darkening 
shadows  which  slavery  was  casting  over  the  land.  During 
the  first  few  years  of  their  active  and  arduous  labors  they 
did  much  to  direct  attention  to  the  wrongs  of  the  slave,  the 
crimes  of  the  slave  system,  and  the  dangers  those  wrongs  and 
crimes  involved.  Though  other  and  subsequent  agencies  were 
employed  to  render  more  available  and  practicable  the  princi 
ples  of  the  great  conflict,  the  honor  of  their  first  and  brave 
proclamation  will  ever  belong  to  them. 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

ABOLITION  PETITIONS. — ARRAIGNMENT  OP  MR.  ADAMS. — EIGHT  OP 
PETITION   WON.  —  MR.    ADAMS'S   POSITION.   • 

The  Election  of  1840.  — Death  of  President  Harrison.  —  President  Tyler.  —  Mr. 
Adams's  Motion  to  repeal  the  21st  Rule  adopted.  —  The  South  warned  against 
the  Abolitionists.  —  President  Tyler's  Letter.  —  Thomas  F.  Marshall,  Henry 
A.  Wise,  and  Joshua  R.  Giddings.  —  Vote  on  21st  Rule  reconsidered. —  Dis 
cussion.  —  Petition  presented  by  Mr.  Adams.  — '•  Resolution  of  Censure.  — 
Caucus.  —  Mr.  Weld  and  Mr.  Leavitt.  —  Marshall's  Resolutions.  —  Speech. 
—  Mr.  Adams's  Defence.  —  Remarks  of  Wise.  —  Adams's  Reply.  —  Liberal 
Action  of  Underwood,  Arnold,  and  Botts.  —  Resolution  laid  on  the  Table.  — 
Debate  in  XXVIIIth  Congress.  —  Remarks  of  Hale  and  Hamlin.  —  Rule 
abrogated  and  Right  of  Petition  secured.  —  Position  of  Mr.  Adams.  —  Criti 
cisms  of  Garrison,  Birney,  and  Goodell. 

THE  great  political  struggle  of  1840  resulted  in  the  triumph 
of  the  Whig  party.  It  secured  the  Executive  and  majorities  in 
both  houses  of  Congress.  But  freedom  gained  little  by  the 
change.  The  Slave  Power  still  controlled  the  general  gov 
ernment.  The  new  administration  soon  became  quite  as  obse 
quious  as  the  one  it  had  displaced. 

Within  thirty  days  after  entering  on  the  duties  of  his  office, 

President  Harrison  died.     Vice-President  Tyler  —  a  Whig  in 

name  rather  than  in  sentiment  and  opinion  —  succeeded  him. 

General  Harrison  had  been  reared  in  Virginia,  and  educated 

inder  the  malign  influences  of  slavery.     As  governor  of  the 

^erritory  of  Indiana  he  had  striven  to  secure  for  it  a  tempo- 

ry  suspension  of  the  ordinance  of  1787.  In  Congress  he  had 
generally  complied  with  the  requirements  of  the  slave-masters. 
In  his  Inaugural  Address  he  had  prepared  a  paragraph  which 
would  have  been  highly  offensive  to  the  members  of  his  party 
who  had  advocated  the  right  of  petition  and  the  freedom  of 
debate ;  but,  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Clay,  it  was  so  modified 


424       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

as  to  mean  little  or  nothing.  While  antislavery  men  had  little 
to  hope  from  President  Harrison,  they  had  everything  to  fear 
from  President  Tyler.  He  was  an  ultra  slaveholder,  and  in 
feeling,  sentiment,  and  opinion  he  was  narrow,  bigoted,  and 
sectional. 

On  the  31st  of  May  an  extra  session  of  Congress  was  con 
vened.  On  the  first  day  Mr.  Wise  moved  that  the  rules  of 
the  last  House  be  adopted  for  ten  days,  and  that  a  committee 
of  nine  be  appointed  for  their  revision.  Mr.  Adams  moved  to 
amend  the  motion  by  inserting,  "  except  the  twenty-first  rule, 
which  is  hereby  rescinded."  This  rule  excluded  antislavery 
petitions.  In  support  of  his  motion  Mr.  Adams  gave  the  his 
tory  of  that  rule,  adopted  when  "  a  majority  of  the  House 
were  anxious  above  all  things  not  to  be  thought  Abolitionists." 
"  It  was,"  he  said,  "  a  Democratic  measure,  a  measure  of 
Northern  men  with  Southern  principles,  a  sectional  measure." 
Mr.  Adams's  amendment  was  agreed  to  by  a  vote  of  one  hun 
dred  and  twelve  to  one  hundred  and  four. 

Mr.  Charles  J.  Ingersoll,  a  Democratic  politician  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  moved  a  reconsideration  of  that  vote.  Alluding  to  the 
remark  of  Mr.  Adams  that  he  was  a  Northern  man,  he  an 
nounced  himself  to  be  a  middle  man.  He  proceeded  to  warn 
the  slaveholders  that  the  signs  of  the  times  behooved  them  to 
be  more  on  the  alert  than  they  had  ever  yet  been  in  guarding 
their  rights  against  abolition  ;  and  that  they  had  never  yet 
taken  ground  as  high  as  he  would  take.  He  said  there  were 
more  than  two  thousand  abolition  societies ;  and  he  advised 
the  South  to  combine  and  move  in  solid  phalanx  in  defence  of 
its  endangered  interests.  In  the  course  of  the  debate  Mr. 
Adams  had  expressed  the  opinion  that,  if  the  free  people  of 
the  North  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  people  of  the  South, 
they  should  not  be  called  upon  to  aid  in  suppressing  servile 
insurrections.  He  had  also  stated  that,  in  the  event  of  such 
insurrections,  Congress  would  have  the  constitutional  power 
to  interfere  with  slavery,  and  would  dispose  of  it  according  to 
the  dictates  of  justice  and  humanity.  Mr.  Ingersoll  expressed 
horror  at  the  position  of  Mr.  Adams,  and  proclaimed  his  readi 
ness  to  march  at  any  moment  to  suppress  an  insurrection  of 


ABOLITION  PETITIONS.  425 

the  slaves.  Mr.  Johnson  of  Maryland  said  he  had  seen  a  let 
ter  from  President  Tyler  recommending  the  members  of  the 
House  to  support  the  twenty-first  rule.  The  reading  of  the  let 
ter  was  called  for  by  Mr.  Adams  ;  to  which  Mr.  Johnson  replied 
that  it  was  not  an  official  letter,  but  the  President's  individual 
opinion. 

Mr.  Thomas  F.  Marshall,  a  new  Whig  member  from  Ken 
tucky,  made  a  brilliant  and  characteristic  speech.  "  I  shall 
vote,"  said  he,  "  against  reconsideration.  In  other  words,  I 
shall  vote  in  favor  of  receiving  all  the  petitions  stowed  away 
in  his  abolition  drawer.  Why  ?  Because  I  do  not  want  this 
subject  coming  up  year  after  year  and,  it  may  be,  century  after 
century.  I  want  the  question  settled  now.  I  shall  move  that 
they  be  committed  to  a  committee  of  Northern  gentlemen,  and 
the  gentleman  of  Massachusetts  placed  at  its  head.  I  want 
to  try  it  as  a  question  of  history.  There  is  something  poeti 
cal  in  the  idea  that  the  son  of  the  man  whose  stalwart  arms 
and  brawny  shoulders  had  aided  in  laying  the  corner-stone  of 
this  temple  of  our  liberties  should  be  the  incendiary  who 
should  light  the  flame  for  its  destruction." 

Mr.  Wise,  in  the  course  of  this  debate,  sharply  censured  the 
Speaker,  John  White  of  Kentucky,  for  appointing  Mr.  Gid- 
dings  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Claims,  and  Mr.  Adams 
chairman  of  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs.  He  denounced 
the  Abolitionists  as  "  a  few  dangerous  fanatics,  unsupported, 
unbacked,  and  discountenanced  by  the  virtue,  intelligence,  and 
patriotism  of  the  North."  He  insisted  that  the  House  could 
not  be  organized  until  the  "  hydra  of  abolition  "  is  crushed. 
This  he  declared  to  be  a  vital  question,  far  surpassing  all  the 
financial  and  currency  questions  of  the  day.  Mr.  King  of 
Georgia  announced  that  if  abolition  petitions  should  be  re 
ceived,  and  discussion  be  tolerated,  the  Southern  members 
would  be  obliged  to  leave  their  seats. 

Kenneth  Rayner,  a  Whig  member  from  North  Carolina,  asked 
Mr.  Adams  if  he  would  present  a  petition  from  Fanny  Wright 
and  her  followers,  praying  Congress  to  abolish  the  institution  of 
marriage.  Mr.  Adams  replied :  "  Why,  the  most  damning  sin 
of  slavery  is  that  it  does  abolish  the  institution  of  marriage. 

54 


426       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN   AMERICA. 

How,  then,  could  I  have  any  more  objection  to  receiving  such 
petitions  than  I  should  have  to  the  perpetuation  of  slavery, 
which  destroys  the  sacred  institution  of  marriage  ?  "  Cries  of 
order  were  raised,  and  Mr.  Adams  took  his  seat,  remarking,  "  If 
the  gentleman  is  afraid  to  receive  answers,  he  should  take  care 
to  ask  no  questions."  Mr.  Giddings,  who  afterward  so  signal 
ized  himself  for  his  advocacy  of  the  cause  of  equal  rights,  par 
ticipated  in  the  debate.  Alluding  to  his  silence,  which  he 
explained  to  be  the  result  of  no  want  of  interest  in  the  sub 
ject,  but  because  he  came  there  for  the  purpose  of  attending 
to  the  business  for  which  the  session  was  called,  he  declared 
that  they  were  fully  organized  and  ready  to  proceed  to  busi 
ness  when  the  motion  for  reconsideration  was  made,  and  they 
were  called  upon  to  reject  all  the  rules  they  had  adopted  be 
cause  they  had  rejected  one.  He  rejoiced  that  Northern  mem 
bers  had  remained  silent,  thus  giving  evidence  of  their  desire 
to  attend  to  the  public  business,  though  many  things  had  been 
said  to  which  they  desired  to  reply.  Mr.  Ingersoll's  motion  to 
reconsider  was  lost.  Mr.  Wise  moved  to  reconsider  the  vote 
by  which  the  House  adopted  the  rules,  with  the  exception  of 
the  twenty-first,  and  his  motion  prevailed  by  a  majority  of  two. 
Mr.  Rayner  then  moved  that  the  rules  of  the  last  House 
be  adopted,  but  his  motion  was  lost  by  nine  majority.  He 
spoke  for  three  hours.  In  his  speech  he  complimented  very 
highly  Northern  Democrats  who  had  voted  against  the  right 
of  petition.  He  admitted  that  slavery  was  "  a  misfortune 
to  any  people  among  whom  it  exists  "  ;  and  yet  he  violently 
denounced  those  who  would  subvert  it.  "  Before  you  accom 
plish  ytiur  purpose,"  he  said,  "  you  must  march  over  heca 
tombs  of  bodies  ;  you  must  convert  every  one  of  our  smil 
ing  fields  into  a  camp ;  you  must  beat  every  one  of  your 
ploughshares  into  swords.  Long,  long  before  you  reach  the 
banks  of  the  Roanoke,  every  stream  will  run  red  with  your  blood, 
every  hill  will  whiten  with  your  bones.  Attempt  this  wild 
project  when  you  will,  and  if  there  be  any  truth  in  heathen 
story,  the  banks  of  the  Styx  will  be  lined  with  your  shivering 
ghosts  for  a  hundred  years  to  come.  We  will  trample  you 
under  our  feet,  and  trail  your  crown  and  sceptre  in  the  dust." 


PETITION   FOE   THE   DISSOLUTION   OF   THE   UNION.  427 

Mr.  Stuart,  a  Whig  member  from  Virginia,  presented  a 
resolution  that  the  rules  of  the  last  House  not  suspended  by 
any  rule  or  resolution  adopted  at  that  session  be  adopted  as 
the  rules  of  the  House.  On  this  motion  he  moved  the  previous 
question,  but  withdrew  it  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Nisbet  of 
Georgia,  who  wished  to  address  the  House.  Referring  in  un 
equivocal  and  bitter  words  to  Mr.  Adams,  he  said  :  "  I  have 
listened  with  strong  and  burning  indignation  to  the  language 
that  has  been  indulged  in  by  the  hoary-headed  member  from 
Massachusetts.  I  have  been  compelled  to  think  of  the  Man- 
tuan  bard :  — 

'  Tantsene  in  animis  cselestibus  irae  ? ' 

As  I  looked  at  him,  throwing  forth  such  sentiments  and  lan 
guage,  I  was  forcibly  reminded  of  Vesuvius,  which,  while  its 
summit  was  clothed  in  white,  vomited  a  fiery  stream,  which 
spread  desolation  and  ruin  whence  it  came."  Mr.  Nisbet 
renewed  the  motion  for  the  previous  question,  which  was 
agreed  to,  and  Mr.  Stuart's  motion  was  adopted. 

At  the  regular  session  of  the  XXVIIth  Congress  the  contest 
for  the  right  of  petition  and  freedom  of  debate  was  renewed, 
[r.  Adams  standing  forth  as  their  inflexible  champion.     This 
iction  of  Mr.  Adams  excited  the  bitterest  animosity  of  mem- 
>ers  from  the   slaveholding  States   of  both  parties,  and  of 
Northern  members  sympathizing  with  them.     The  represen- 
itives  of  slavery  affected  to  despise  and  put  under  the  ban  of 
>cial  ostracism  Slade,  Giddings,  and  Gates.     But  the  com- 
landing  ability,  the  historic  position,  and  reputation  of  Mr. 
.dams,  while  they  shielded  him  from  their  contempt,  real  or 
Lffected,  aroused  their  bitterest  hostility  and  hate. 

On  the  14th  of  January,  1842,  Mr.  Adams,  having  the  floor 
for  the  presentation  of  petitions,  said :  "  I  hold  in  my  hand 
the  petition  of  Benjamin  Emerson  and  forty-five  other  citizens 
)f  Haverhill,  Massachusetts,  praying  Congress  to  adopt  imme 
diate  measures  for  the  peaceful  dissolution  of  the  union  of 
these  States."  Hardly  had  these  words  fallen  from  his  lips 
when  several  slaveholding  members,  many  of  them  then 
known  and  since  proved  to  be  disunionists,  clamorously  de 
manded  leave  to  speak.  But  Mr,  Adams,  having  the  floor, 


428        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

moved  the  reference  of  this  petition  to  a  select  committee  of 
nine  members,  with  instructions  to  report  an  answer  to  the 
petitioners  showing  the  reason  why  their  prayer  could  not  be 
granted.  From  all  parts  of  the  House  came  vehement  and 
passionate  demands  for  the  floor,  which  was  given  to  Mr.  Hop 
kins  of  Virginia.  He  inquired  of  the  Speaker  if  it  would  be 
in  order  to  burn  the  petition  in  the  presence  of  the  House. 
Mr.  Wise  inquired  if  it  would  be  in  order  to  present  a  resolu 
tion  censuring  Mr.  Adams ;  and  such  a  resolution  was  intro 
duced  by  Mr.  Gilmer  of  the  same  State.  Mr.  Adams  expressed 
the  hope  that  the  resolution  would  be  received  and  debated,  and 
that  he  might  have  an  opportunity  of  defending  his  action. 

The  House  adjourned,  and  notice  was  given  that  the  mem 
bers  from  the  slave  States  would  hold  a  meeting  that  even 
ing  for  consultation.  The  meeting  was  held  ;  and  Thomas 
F.  Marshall,  a  Whig  from  Kentucky,  a  brilliant  speaker,  of 
whose  future  career  high  expectations  were  entertained,  was 
selected  as  the  leader  in  the  work  of  censure.  While  this 
conclave  was  preparing  for  the  trial,  a  few  members  of  the 
House  assembled  at  the  room  of  Mr.  Giddings.  Joshua 
Leavitt  and  Theodore  D.  Weld,  among  the  ablest  and  most 
effective  advocates  of  emancipation,  were  present,  and  were 
commissioned  to  call  on  Mr.  Adams  and  tender  him  any  assist 
ance  in  the  power  of  the  persons  then  assembled  to  render. 
The  venerable  statesman  expressed  his  most  profound  grati 
tude  for  this  offer  of  friendly  aid,  and  requested  them  to 
examine  certain  points  in  the  authorities,  a  list  of  which  he 
gave  them.  These  gentlemen  performed  their  task  with  alac 
rity  and  success,  so  that,  on  the  assembling  of  the  House  next 
day,  the  desk  of  Mr.  Adams  was  covered  with  volumes  ready 
for  immediate  use. 

Immediately  after  the  reading  of  the  journal,  Mr.  Marshall 
submitted  three  resolutions,  as  an  amendment  to  that  offered 
by  Mr.  Gilmer,  in  which  it  was  set  forth  that  the  act  of  Mr. 
Adams  might  be  held  to  merit  expulsion  ;  that  the  House 
deemed  it  an  act  of  mercy  and  grace  when  they  only  inflicted 
upon  him  the  severest  censure  for  conduct  so  unworthy  of  his 
past  relations  to  the  State  and  his  present  position,  and  that 


ARRAIGNMENT   OF   MR.  ADAMS.  429 

this  they  did  for  the  maintenance  of  their  purity  and  dignity ; 
and  for  the  rest  they  turned  him  over  to  his  own  conscience 
and  the  indignation  of  all  American  citizens.  Mr.  Marshall 
evidently  entered  upon  his  work  with  heart  and  hope.  He 
was  an  orator  of  rare  power,  though  ambitious,  egotistical,  and 
of  unbalanced  judgment.  Like  too  many  men  of  rare  gifts 
and  high  promise,  he  became  the  victim  of  intemperance  ; 
and  though,  through  the  persuasive  influence  of  the  late  Gov 
ernor  Briggs  of  Massachusetts,  then  a  member,  he  reformed 
for  a  few  months,  he  soon  relapsed,  and  became  an  utter 
wreck.  When  he  rose  to  speak  on  this  occasion  the  galleries 
were  thronged  and  the  House  filled  with  privileged  persons. 
He  spoke  with  so  much  eloquence  and  force  that  the  enemies 
of  Mr.  Adams  were  very  much  elated  and  his  friends  not  a 
little  depressed. 

When  Mr.  Marshall  closed,  the  venerable  statesman,  rising, 
asked  the  Clerk  to  read  the  first  paragraph  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  which  declares  when  any  form  of  government 
becomes  destructive  of  the  ends  of  establishment  it  is  the  right 
or  the  duty  of  the  people  to  alter  or  abolish  it,  and  reorganize 
its  powers  in  such  form  as  to  them  shall  appear  best  to  secure 
their  interest  and  happiness.  He  then  proceeded  to  maintain 
that  the  people  had  a  right  to  reform  abuses  of  the  govern 
ment,  and  bring  it  back  to  the  performance  of  duties  for  which 
it  was  instituted  ;  that  they  had  a  right  to  ask  Congress  to  do 
what  they  thought  they  ought  to  do,  and  it  was  the  duty  of 
Congress  to  state  the  reason  why  their  prayer  should  not  be 
granted.  He  charged  that  the  people  were  oppressed  by  the 
denial  of  the  right  of  petition,  and  of  the  freedom  of  debate, 

id  that  the  South  was  endeavoring  to  destroy  the  right  of 

labeas  corpus  and  trial  by  jury,  and  to  force  slavery  on  the 
free  States.  He  said  emphatically,  that,  if  the  rights  of  the 

>eople  were  to  be  taken  away  by  a  coalition  between  Southern 
slaveholders  and  Northern  Democrats,  it  was  time  for  the  peo 
ple  to  arise  and  assert  their  rights.  He  asked  for  more  time  in 
which  to  prepare  his  defence  ;  and  Mr.  Horace  Everett  of  Ver- 

lont  moved  a  postponement  of  two  weeks  for  that  purpose. 
Henry  A.  Wise  then  took  the  floor  and  spoke  at  great  length, 


430       EISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

charging  Mr.  Adams  with  conspiring  with  British  Abolitionists 
to  destroy  the  Union.  He  bitterly  denounced  Mr.  Adams  for 
saying  that,  in  case  of  insurrection,  the  President  might,  if 
necessary  to  restore  peace,  emancipate  the  slaves.  Having 
supported  Mr.  Tyler  against  the  great  body  of  Whigs  in  and 
out  of  Congress,  he  called  upon  the  Democratic  party  to  put 
down  Abolitionism ;  for,  if  slavery  were  destroyed,  he  said, 
the  great  democratic  principle  of  equality  among  men  would 
become  obsolete. 

Mr.  Adams  replied  to  the  bitter  and  violent  assault  of  Mr. 
Wise  with  terrible  severity.  Alluding  to  his  connection,  as  a 
second  to  Mr.  Graves,  with  the  duel  in  which  Mr.  Cilley  was 
killed,  he  said  that  Mr.  Wise  had  come  into  that  hall  a  few 
years  since  "  with  his  hands  dripping  with  human  gore,  a  blotch 
of  human  blood  upon  his  face."  Turning  from  Mr.  Wise,  Mr. 
Adams  replied  to  the  speech  of  Mr.  Marshall,  who  had  charged 
him  with  high  treason.  He  thanked  God  that  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  had  defined  treason,  and  that  it  was  not 
left  for  the  "  puny  mind  "  of  the  gentleman  of  Kentucky  to 
define  that  crime.  He  said  that,  were  he  Mr.  Marshall's  father, 
he  would  "  advise  him  to  return  to  Kentucky,  and  take  his 
place  in  some  law  school,  and  commence  the  study  of  that  pro 
fession  he  has  disgraced."  Mr.  Adams  proceeded  to  arraign 
the  slaveholders,  and  to  open  an  aggressive  war  upon  the  cham 
pions  of  slavery. 

The  resolution  of  censure  was  opposed  by  Mr.  Underwood,  a 
Whig  member  from  Kentucky,  who  announced  his  opposition 
to  all  rules  denominated  "  gag  laws."  Mr.  Arnold,  a  Whig 
member  from  Tennessee,  sustained  Mr.  Adams  and  denounced 
the  twenty-first  rule  as  a  violation  of  the  Constitution.  Mr. 
Botts  bravely  lent  his  support,  and  referred  to  the  fact  that, 
a  few  years  before,  Mr.  Rhett  of  South  Carolina  had  drawn  up 
resolutions  for  the  dissolution  of  the  Union,  and  had  sought 
for  an  opportunity  to  present  them.  Mr.  Gilmer  offered  to 
withdraw  his  resolution  of  censure  if  Mr.  Adams  would  with 
draw  the  petition.  But  this  he  sternly  refused  to  do,  declaring 
that  he  would  not  violate  his  sense  of  duty  to  obtain  the  favor 
or  forbearance  of  the  House. 


DEBATE  IN   THE   TWENTY-EIGHTH   CONGRESS. 


431 


Mr.  Marshall  again  addressed  the  House,  and  then  called  for 
the  previous  question.  But  Mr.  Adams  demanded  the  floor, 
obtained  it,  and  proceeded  in  his  defence.  Taking  the  aggres 
sive,  he  assailed  with  great  effect  slavery  and  the  Slave  Power. 
Mr.  Saunders  of  North  Carolina  called  him  to  order,  but  the 
Speaker  allowed  him  to  proceed.  From  this  decision  Mr. 
Saunders  appealed,  but  the  House  sustained  the  Speaker. 

The  next  day  Mr.  Merriwether  of  Georgia  stated  that  ten  or 
twelve  days  had  been  taken  up  in  the  trial,  and  he  wished  to 
know  how  much  more  time  Mr.  Adams  expected  to  occupy  in 
his  defence.  Mr.  Adams  replied  that  he  was  not  responsible 
for  the  time  occupied ;  that  when  Warren  Hastings  was  tried 
Burke  occupied  some  months  in  a  single  speech ;  and  he 
thought  he  could  "  close  in  ninety  days."  On  motion  of  Mr. 
Botts  the  resolutions  of  censure  were  laid  upon  the  table  by  a 
majority  of  thirteen.  The  friends  of  Mr.  Adams  were  proud 
of  the  gallant  fight  their  champion  had  made,  and  greatly 
elated  at  the  signal  victory  which  crowned  it.  On  the  other 
hand,  his  enemies,  baffled,  defeated,  and  humiliated,  felt  that 
for  once,  at  least,  slavery  had  lost  and  freedom  had  won. 

The  Whigs  had  a  majority  of  nearly  forty  in  that  Congress. 
Though  the  Northern  Whigs  and  a  few  of  their  Southern 
associates  were  against  the  twenty-first  rule,  that  arbitrary  and 
obnoxious  measure  remained  during  that  Congress  without 
modification. 

In  the  XXVIIIth  Congress  the  Democrats  had  a  large  ma 
jority.  Early  in  the  session  Mr.  Adams  moved  the  appoint 
ment  of  a  committee  to  report  rules  for  the  government  of  the 
House.  This  committee,  of  which  he  was  chairman,  made  a 
iport  omitting  the  twenty-first  rule.  This  report  was  dis 
cussed  for  several  weeks,  in  the  morning  hour.  In  this  de 
bate  Mr.  Adams  was  severely,  if  not  wantonly,  assailed  by  the 
representatives  of  the  Slave  Power.  During  this  long  discus 
sion  Mr.  Dillett  of  Alabama,  in  assailing  Mr.  Adams,  quoted 
these  words  from  a  speech  delivered  by  him  to  the  colored  peo 
ple  of  Pittsburg :  "  We  know  that  the  day  of  your  redemp 
tion  must  come.  The  time  and  manner  of  its  coming  we 
know  not.  It  may  come  in  peace,  or  it  may  come  in  blood ; 


432       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

but  whether  in  peace  or  in  blood,  let  it  come."  Mr.  Adams 
said  with  emphasis  :  "  I  say  now,  let  it  come."  To  this  re 
mark  of  Mr.  Adams  Mr.  Dillett  replied  :  "  Yes,  the  gentleman 
now  says  let  it  come,  though  it  costs  the  blood  of  thousands 
of  white  men."  Mr.  Adams  quickly  responded  :  "  Though  it 
costs  the  blood  of  millions  of  white  men,  let  it  come  !  "  Of 
course  the  slaveholders  were  terribly  shocked  at  these  words 
of  the  venerable  statesman. 

During  the  debate  several  Northern  Democrats  avowed  their 
opposition  to  this  continued  suppression  of  the  right  of  petition. 
John  P.  Hale  of  New  Hampshire,  and  Hannibal  Hamlin  of 
Maine,  members  of  the  Democratic  party,  then  first  came  into 
Congress,  and  both  of  them  were  in  favor  of  abrogating  that 
arbitrary,  unconstitutional,  and  indefensible  rule.  Mr.  Hamlin 
took  an  early  occasion  to  express  his  opposition  to  it,  and  to 
advocate  the  right  of  the  people  to  petition  for  the  redress 
of  grievances.  When  he  closed,  Mr.  Adams,  who  had  lis 
tened  to  him  with  marked  attention,  crossed  the  hall  and 
offered  him  his  hand,  with  the  remark :  "  Light  breaketh  in 
the  East." 

But  all  efforts  were  unavailing.  The  report  was  laid  upon 
the  table  by  a  small  majority,  and  the  obnoxious  rule  was  re 
tained.  Early,  however,  in  the  second  session,  Mr.  Adams 
again  moved  to  rescind  it,  and  now  with  more  cheering  pros 
pects  of  success.  For  ten  years,  amid  calumny  and  abuse,  he 
had  struggled  to  secure  for  the  people  the  simple  right  of  peti 
tion,  but  always  against  an  unyielding  majority.  The  time  had 
come  when  that  majority  was  broken,  and  the  rule,  by  twenty- 
eight  majority,  was  stricken  out.  Fourteen  members  only  from 
the  free  States,  a  small  remnant  of  the  host  Mr.  Adams  was 
wont  to  characterize  as  "  the  Swiss  guards  of  slavery  fighting 
for  pay,"  rallied  in  the  last  struggle  to  keep  the  "  gag"  alike 
upon  the  lips  of  the  people  and  of  their  representatives.  It 
was,  however,  for  many  years,  practically  a  barren  victory,  for 
not  only  did  the  petitioners  fail  in  securing  a  favorable  response 
to  their  prayers,  but  with  slaveholding  cunning  the  Speakers 
of  the  House  so  constituted  the  committee  to  which  such  peti 
tions  were  referred  that  they  were  never  reported  upon,  and 


ME.  ADAMS'S  POSITION.  433 

were  sent  at  the  close  of  the  session  "  to  the  tomb  of  the  Cap- 
ulets." 

That  Mr.  Adams  never  identified  himself  with  the  antislav- 
ery  men  and  associations  of  his  day,  and  that  he  distrusted 
both  the  immediate  objects  of  their  effort  and  their  modes  of 
procedure  to  obtain  those  objects,  are  well  known.  As  late  as 
1840  he  not  only  declared  that  he  had  never  given  the  slight 
est  encouragement  to  petitions  for  the  immediate  and  uncom- 
pensated  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  or 
elsewhere,  but  indulged  in  the  somewhat  caustic  remark,  that, 
if  the  total  abolition  of  slavery  was  the  purpose  of  Divine 
Providence,  other  agents  and  other  means  would  be  employed 
than  either  the  American  Colonization  or  Abolition  Societies  ; 
"  or  if  these  societies,  or  either  of  them,  are  to  be  made  instru 
mental  in  the  accomplishment  of  the  great  work,  they  must  en 
tirely  change  their  modes  of  operation,  and  come  down  from 
the  empyrean  of  their  fancy  to  the  vapory  atmosphere  of  this 
nether  world." 

In  his  letter  of  acceptance  of  the  nomination  for  Congress, 
in  the  autumn  of  1838,  he  said :  "  The  abolition  of  slavery  in 
the  District  of  Columbia,  or  in  the  Territory  of  Florida ;  the 
prohibition  of  the  internal  piracy  between  the  States  ;  the  re 
fusal  to  admit  another  contaminated  State  into  the  Union,  — 
are  all  partial,  ineffective  plasters  for  the  great  elemental  evil. 

"  '  They  will  but  skin  and  film  the  ulcerous  part, 
While  rank  corruption  mining  all  within 
Infects  unseen.'  " 

In  the  April  following,  in  letters  addressed  to  the  citizens  of 
the  United  States  whose  petitions  he  had  been  presenting  to 
Congress,  after  informing  the  petitioners  that  their  petitions 
"  had  received  very  little  notice  from  the  House,"  he  did  not  hesi 
tate  to  inform  them  that  he  could  not  vote  for  the  immediate 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  or  in  the  Ter 
ritory  of  Florida,  nor  for  a  refusal  to  admit  that  Territory  as  a 
slaveholdirig  State  into  the  Union.  His  main  reasons  were  that 
it  was  impracticable  and  would  be  improper.  That  it  was  im 
practicable  he  argued,  "  because  public  opinion  throughout  the 
Union  is  against  it."  It  would  be  improper  mainly  "  because 

55 


434       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

it  would  operate  exclusively  upon  the  people  of  the  District  in 
compliance  with  the  petitions  of  those  not  affected  themselves 
by  the  law  "  ;  and  this  would  be  "  contrary  to  the  first  princi 
ples  of  our  institutions,"  especially  that  principle  of  the  Dec 
laration  "  that  derives  all  the  just  power  of  government  from 
the  consent  of  the  governed." 

But  while  Mr.  Adams  failed  to  accept  and  approve  the  dis 
tinctive  measures  of  the  Abolitionists,  there  were  none  who 
seemed  to  comprehend  more  fully  than  he  the  magnitude, 
guilt,  inveteracy,  and  danger  to  the  land  of  American  slavery, 
and  its  pervasive  and  perilous  ascendency  in  every  department 
of  the  nation's  social  and  civil  life.  In  his  letter  to  his  con 
stituents,  he  had  said  that  "  the  Union  will  fall  before  slavery, 
or  it  will  fall  before  the  Union. }i  In  a  letter  to  the  Rhode 
Island  Antislavery  Society,  written  in  December,  1838,  he  used 
this  unequivocal  language  :  "  No  one  attentive  to  the  progress 
of  our  history  as  an  independent  nation  can  fail  to  see  that  in 
the  silent  lapse  of  time  slavery  has  been  winding  its  cobweb- 
thread  around  all  our  free  institutions.  This  was  not  the  cove 
nant  to  which  we  pledged  our  faith  in  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence."  The  fathers  believed  and  meant  slavery  to  be 
temporary  ;  emancipation  was  the  end  in  view,  only  the  "  time 
and  mode "  were  uncertain.  "  George  Washington  was  an 
Abolitionist ;  so  was  Thomas  Jefferson.  But  were  they  alive, 
and  should  dare  to  show  their  faces  and  to  utter  the  self-evi 
dent  truth  of  the  Declaration  within  the  State  of  South  Caro 
lina,  they  would  be  hanged." 

"  It  is  not,"  he  said,  "  an  occasional  ebullition  of  popular 
passion  and  feeling  which  marks  the  contrast  between  the  sen 
timents  of  the  fathers  and  the  slaveholding  doctrines  "  of  their 
posterity.  "  It  is  the  perversion  of  intellect,  the  depravation 
of  moral  feeling,  the  degradation  of  man  to  the  standard  of  the 
brute,  which  marks  the  American  school  of  servile  philosophy." 
But  he  had  faith  in  the  power  of  truth  and  of  well-directed 
effort ;  nor  was  he  hopeless  of  good  results  therefrom.  In  this 
Rhode  Island  letter  he  says :  "  The  fire  of  liberty  burns  yet, 
though  with  a  flickering  flame,  in  New  England.  It  will  yet 
kindle  and  consume  to  ashes  the  dastardly  sophisms  with  which 


MR.  ADAMS'S  POSITION.  435 

slavery  would  pollute  our  souls.  I  may  not  live  to  see  the  day, 
but  I  wait  for  it  only  to  say  with  Simeon,  '  Lord,  now  lettest 
thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace.'  '  In  a  letter  to  Edmund 
Quincy,  written  a  few  months  before,  declining  an  invitation  to 
attend  an  antislavery  meeting  on  account  of  age  and  infirmi 
ties,  he  wrote  :  "  I  rejoice  that  the  cause  of  human  freedom  is 
falling  into  younger  and  more  vigorous  hands.  That  in  three 
score  years  from  the  day  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
its  self-evident  truths  should  be  yet  struggling  for  existence 
against  the  degeneracy  of  an  age  pampered  with  prosperity  and 
languishing  into  servitude,  is  a  melancholy  truth  from  which  I 
should  in  vain  attempt  to  shut  my  eyes.  But  the  summons  has 
gone  forth  ;  the  youthful  champions  of  the  rights  of  human  na 
ture  have  buckled  and  are  buckling  on  their  armor,  and  the 
scourging  overseer,  the  lynching  lawyer,  and  the  servile  sophist, 
and  the  faithless  scribe,  and  the  priestly  parasite  will  vanish 
before  them  like  Satan  touched  by  the  spear  of  Ithuriel.  I  live 
in  the  faith  and  hope  of  the  progressive  advancement  of  Chris 
tian  liberty,  and  expect  to  abide  by  the  same  in  death." 

Mr.  Adams's  public  disavowal  of  all  sympathy  with  the 
immediate  purposes  and  policy  of  the  Abolitionists,  and  the 
somewhat  cavalier  manner  in  which  he  characterized  their 
associations  and  modes  of  effort,  evoked  earnest  responses. 
In  February,  1839,  Mr.  Garrison  addressed  to  him  a  letter,  in 
which  he  gave  utterance  to  the  feelings  and  sentiments  which 
his  general  course  and  some  recent  speeches  in  Congress  had 
produced  in  many  minds.  He  first  quoted  some  striking  ex 
pressions  from  these  speeches,  setting  forth  his  strong  abhor 
rence  of  slavery.  Mr.  Adams  had  said :  "  The  moral  principle 
which  had  interdicted  the  African  slave-trade  pronounced  at 
once  the  sentence  of  condemnation  upon  slavery."  He  had 
also  said :  "  Unyielding  opposition  against  slavery  is  inter 
woven  with  every  pulsation  of  my  heart.  Resistance  against 
it,  feeble  and  inefficient  as  the  last  accents  of  a  failing  voice 
may  be,  shall  still  be  heard  while  the  power  of  utterance  shall 
remain,  and  shall  never  cease  till  the  pitcher  shall  be  broken 
at  the  fountain,  the  dust  return  to  the  earth  as  it  was,  and 
the  spirit  unto  God  who  gave  it." 


436        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

In  view  of  these  and  similar  utterances  Mr.  Garrison  wrote  : 
"  There  are  two  parties  in  this  country  who  are  equally  puzzled 
to  reconcile  your  abhorrence  of  slavery  with  your  determina 
tion  not  to  vote  for  its  abolition  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  — 
the  slaveholders  of  the  South  and  the  Abolitionists  of  the 
North.  In  your  theory  of  human  rights  the  latter  understand 
that  you  agree  in  principle  with  those  who  by  the  help  of  God 
are  resolved  upon  subverting  a  foul  and  bloody  system.  In 
your  unwillingness  to  carry  that  theory  into  practice,  the 
former  perceive  that  you  are  acting  in  concert  with  all  that 
is  despotic  and  inhuman  in  the  land.  You  are  claimed  and 
rejected  by  both  at  the  same  moment."  On  one  occasion  Mr. 
Adams  had  used  this  expression :  "  I  say  it  here  openly,  that 
the  Abolitionists  and  Antislavery  Societies  may  take  in  regard 
to  me  what  course  they  please."  To  this  Mr.  Garrison  re 
plied  :  "  If  you  had  been  as  explicit  in  your  declarations  at 
the  time  your  election  was  pending  as  you  now  are,  a  majority 
of  your  constituents  would  have  cast  their  votes  for  some  other 
candidate." 

Mr.  Birney,  as  late  as  1843,  expressed  himself  concerning 
Mr.  Adams's  course  in  language  equally  unequivocal.  u  His 
course,"  he  said,  "  in  my  judgment  has  been  eccentric,  whim 
sical,  inconsistent,  and,  taken  as  a  whole,  thus  far  is  unworthy 
of  a  statesman  of  large  views  and  a  right  temper  in  a  great 
national  conjuncture."  "  He  has  given  the  Abolitionists  words, 
words,  WORDS,  and  to  their  adversaries  everything  that  is  sub 
stantial." 

A  most  elaborate  and  able  reply  to  Mr.  Adams's  letters  was 
made  by  William  Goodell.  His  long  connection  with  the  anti- 
slavery  reform,  his  large  acquaintance  with  the  subject,  and 
his  unquestioned  ability,  enabled  him  to  present  with  clearness 
the  views  of  the  school  he  represented.  He  began  by  bestow 
ing  upon  the  services  of  Mr.  Adams  in  the  cause  of  the  right 
of  petition  the  most  unstinted  praise,  declaring  that  he  "  could 
not  fail  to  be  written  down  as  the  people's  champion  of  the 
people's  right  of  petition."  His  first  criticism  was  that  Mr. 
Adams's  letter  breathed  too  much  the  air  of  despondency. 
He  had  said  that  if  the  South  continued  to  maintain  its 


MR.  ADAMS'S   POSITION.  437 

position  it  was  impossible  for  the  Union  long  to  continue,  and 
that  he  hung  his  "  head  in  despondency  at  the  prospect  for  the 
rights  of  man,"  as  "  if  the  grand  crisis  had  arrived  and  lib 
erty  appeared  to  be  breathing  its  last  gasp."  But,  added  Mr. 
Goodell,  with  a  confidence  that  now  seems  surprising,  con 
sidering  the  rough  usage  and  the  kind  and  extent  of  opposi 
tion  the  few  antislavery  men  of  that  day  were  compelled  to 
encounter,  "  I  cannot,  I  dare  not,  I  will  not  permit  myself  to 
yield  to  such  feelings.  No  ;  I  am  an  Abolitionist,  and  there 
fore  I  will  not  yet  despair  of  the  republic As  an  Aboli 
tionist  I  cannot  despair  so  long  as  there  is  a  press  left  in  the 
country  unfettered,  or  while  a  tongue  moves  among  our  thir 
teen  millions  ungagged  ;  or  so  long  as  there  remains  a  scrip  of 
unsoiled  paper,  or  quill  of  an  uncaged  eagle  by  which  an  un- 
bought  and  unmanacled  hand  can  write  ABOLITION  and  Free 
dom." 

In  defence  of  the  doctrine  that  in  immediate  abolition  lay 
the  only  hope  of  the  nation,  Mr.  Goodell  urged  that  there  was 
no  hope  in  the  colonization  scheme,  of  which  Mr.  Adams  him 
self  had  said,  "  the  search  of  the  philosopher's  stone  and  the 
casting  of  nativities  by  the  course  of  the  stars  were  rational 
and  sensible  amusements  in  the  comparison."  He  urged  also 
Mr.  Adams's  unavailing  attempt  to  introduce  a  scheme  of  grad 
ual  emancipation  into  the  House,  and  his  admission  that  he 
"  had  no  expectation  that  it  would  be  received."  As  to  the 
impracticability  of  abolishing  slavery  in  the  District  of  Colum 
bia  he  said  that  it  could  only  be  said  to  be  "  unpractised, 
not  impracticable."  To  Mr.  Adams's  expressed  disinclina 
tion  to  make  these  opinions  "  articles  of  a  religious  creed,"  or 
to  "  exercise  force  or  constraint  for  the  liberation  of  a  slave," 
he  replied :  "  The  thunders  of  Sinai  you  would  have  hushed. 
The  weapons  of  the  ballot-box  in  this  warfare  you  would  take 

from  the  hands  of  freemen Why  should  not  the  South 

be  at  peace  with  you  ?  What  Abolitionists  in  our  ranks  could 
not  make  peace  on  the  same  terms  ?  " 

Now  that  slavery  is  destroyed  and  the  conflicting  views  of 
the  different  schools  are  among  the  dead  issues  of  the  past, 
comparatively  small  importance  inheres  in  the  detailed  argu- 


438        RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE  SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

ments  that  were  then  urged  in  their  support.  But  the  main 
points  of  those  differences  and  their  discussions  must  ever  be 
matters  of  special  interest  to  those  who  would  clearly  compre 
hend  the  nature  and  progress  of  that  struggle.  These  dis 
crepancies  of  thought  and  feeling,  often  expressed  with  some 
degree  of  acerbity,  were  entertained  by  men  of  unquestioned 
ability,  profound  convictions,  and  inflexible  integrity  ;  by  men 
who  were  alike  hostile  to  slavery,  impatient  at  its  domination, 
and  anxious  for  its  overthrow.  Why  then  did  they  exist 
among  those  whose  names  are  so  honorably  associated  with 
the  conflict  itself?  Among  the  elements  of  any  satisfactory 
answer  stands  pre-eminently  the  character  of  the  question 
which  confronted  them.  Its  magnitude  and  immense  diffi 
culties  they  could  not,  as  events  have  shown,  fully  compre 
hend.  Therefore  they  could  not  clearly  discern  just  what 
-duty  and  true  policy  required.  In  the  darkness  of  the  hour 
and  amid  the  perplexing  difficulties  of  the  situation  they  could 
not  but  grope  their  way,  and  it  is  little  cause  of  wonder  that 
they  did  not  always  strike  the  same  path.  With  strong  indi 
viduality  and  positiveness  of  character,  their  very  earnestness, 
honesty,  and  anxiety  to  adopt  the  best  methods  of  action  very 
likely  increased  the  danger  of  disagreement,  and  sometimes, 
no  doubt,  made  them  uncharitable  toward  each  other.  The 
question  had  so  many  bearings  and  involved  so  many  issues 
that  little  short  of  Divine  wisdom  was  sufficient  to  point  out 
the  path  of  a  safe  deliverance.  These  Difficulties  were  greatly 
increased,  too,  by  the  general  demoralization  of  the  people  and 
their  indifference  to  any  action.  The  "  perversion  of  intellect 
and  depravation  of  moral  feeling  "  of  which  Mr.  Adams  com 
plained  always  exerted  their  paralyzing  influences  on  all  modes 
of  action,  however  wisely  devised  or  discreetly  pursued. 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

COASTWISE   SLAVE-TRADE.  —  DEMANDS  UPON  THE  BRITISH  GOV 
ERNMENT.  CENSURE   OF   MR.    GIDDINGS. 

Coastwise  Slave-trade.  —  American  Vessels  wrecked.  —  Slaves  liberated  by  Brit 
ish  Authorities.  —  Representations  of  the  Case  by  the  American  Minister  to 
England.  —  The  Action  of  the  British  Government  denounced.  —  Resolutions 
of  Mr.  Calhoun.  —  Debate  on  the  Resolutions.  —  Remarks  of  Mr.  Porter.  — 
Passage  of  the  Resolutions.  — Exasperation  of  the  Slaveholders.  — The  "Cre 
ole  "  seized  by  the  Slaves  and  carried  into  Nassau.  —  Refusal  to  surrender  the 
Slaves.  — Excitement  in  the  South.  —  Excited  Debate  in  the  Senate.  — Mr. 
Calhoun's  Resolutions  relating  to  the  "Creole."  —  Mr.  Webster's  Despatch  to 
Mr.  Everett.  —  Approved  by  Mr.  Calhoun.  —  Action  of  England.  —  Resolution 
of  Mr.  Giddings.  —  Exciting  Scene.  —  Resolution  of  Censure  by  Mr.  Botts.  — 
Resolution  adopted  by  Mr.  Weller.  —  Resolution  of  Censure  passed.  —  Mr. 
Giddings  sustained  by  his  Constituents. 

THE  coastwise  slave-trade,  legalized  by  the  same  act  that 
prohibited  the  African  slave-trade,  increased  with  the  increas 
ing  domestic  slave-traffic.  In  the  year  1830  the  schooner 
"  Comet "  sailed  from  Alexandria  with  a  cargo  of  slaves 
destined  for  the  New  Orleans  market.  She  was  wrecked  on 
the  False  Keys  of  the  Bahama  Islands,  and  her  passengers, 
slaves  included,  were  carried  by  the  wreckers  to  Nassau, 
where  the  freedom  of  the  slaves  was  fully  recognized.  Four 
years  afterward  the  "  Encomium "  sailed  from  Charleston, 
with  a  number  of  slaves  on  board,  destined  for  Louisiana. 
She  was  stranded  near  the  same  place,  and  carried  in  the 
same  manner  into  Nassau,  where  her  slaves  became  free.  In 
1835  the  "  Enterprise  "  sailed  from  the  District  of  Columbia 
with  a  cargo  of  slaves  for  Charleston,  and  was  forced  to  put 
into  Port  Hamilton,  Bermuda,  through  stress  of  weather  ;  and 
her  slaves  too  became  free  under  the  protection  of  British 
power. 


440       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

Of  course,  the  owners  of  these  chattels,  thus  by  accident 
transformed  into  men,  protested  against  the  loss  and  de 
manded  redress  of  their  government.  Negotiations  were 
commenced  by  President  Jackson,  and  the  American  min 
ister  was  instructed  to  press  their  claims  upon  the  British 
government.  Andrew  Stevenson  of  Virginia  was  at  that  time 
the  minister  of  the  United  States  at  the  Court  of  St.  James. 
Bred  and  educated  among  those  who  deemed  the  support  of 
slavery  to  be  one  of  the  highest  duties  of  the  government,  he 
entered  upon  this  duty  with  zeal  and  alacrity.  Claiming  that 
under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  slaves  were  prop 
erty,  that  there  was  no  distinction  between  property  in  persons 
and  property  in  things,  he  asserted  that  the  government  of  the 
United  States  had  "  in  the  most  solemn  manner  determined 
that  slaves  killed  in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  even  in 
time  of  war,  were  to  be  regarded  as  property,  and  paid  for  as 
such."  This  statement  was  untrue  in  fact,  and  Mr.  Stevenson 
could  not  but  have  known  it  to  be  so.  He  had  been  Speaker 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  1828,  when  the  case  of  D' 
Autrieve  was  debated  at  great  length,  and  with  learning  and 
ability.  In  that  case  the  doctrine  that  slaves  were  property 
was  denied  in  the  most  emphatic  manner. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  continued  to  press  these  claims  upon  the 
British  government ;  and  it  paid,  during  his  administration, 
for  the  slaves  of  the  "  Comet"  and  the  "Encomium,"  stranded 
prior  to  West  Indian  emancipation.  But  England  refused 
to  pay  for  the  slaves  on  board  the  "  Enterprise,"  which  put 
into  Port  Hamilton  in  1835,  after  the  abolition  of  slavery  in 
her  colonies.  This  action  was  based  upon  the  ideas  that  by 
the  law  of  nations  the  ship  on  entering  Port  Hamilton  became 
subject  to  British  laws  ;  that  there  was  no  law  of  slavery 
there  ;  and  that  the  authorities  could  not  recognize  the  right 
of  the  slave-dealers  to  hold  their  slaves  as  property  when  they 
demanded  their  liberty. 

Of  course  this  decision,  involving  a  question  of  such  practi 
cal  importance  to  the  slaveholders  of  the  United  States,  was 
wholly  unsatisfactory  to  their  representatives.  Mr.  Calhoun 
brought  the  matter  before  the  Senate  in  resolutions  which 


THE   COASTWISE   SLAVE-TRADE.  441 

asserted  that  a  ship  on  the  high  seas  in  time  of  peace,  en 
gaged  in  a  lawful  voyage,  is,  according  to  the  law  of  nations, 
under  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  State  to  which  her  flag 
belongs ;  that,  if  such  ship  should  be  forced  by  stress  of 
weather  or  other  unavoidable  cause  into  the  port  of  a  friendly 
power,  she  and  her  cargo,  and  the  persons  on  board,  with  their 
property,  and  all  the  rights  belonging  to  their  personal  rela 
tions  as  established  by  the  laws  of  the  State  to  which  they 
belong,  would  be  placed  under  the  protection  which  the  laws 
of  the  nation  extend  to  the  unfortunate  under  such  circum 
stances  ;  that  the  brig  "  Enterprise  "  came  within  those  pro 
visions,  and  that  the  detention  of  the  negroes  on  board 
by  the  local  authorities  of  the  island  was  an  act  in  violation 
of  the  laws  of  nations  and  highly  unjust  to  the  citizens  to 
whom  they  belonged.  In  his  argument  in  support  of  these 
resolutions  he  admitted  that  if  the  slaves  had  been  taken  vol 
untarily  into  the  British  port  the  action  of  that  government 
would  have  been  correct ;  but  he  maintained  that  the  law  of 
nations  interposed  in  case  of  this  enforced  entrance  into  Eng 
land's  jurisdiction.  He  said  it  was  not  a  mere  abstract  question 
as  to  the  possession  of  the  slaves  ;  that  the  island  of  Bermuda 
was  but  a  short  distance  from  the  United  States  ;  that  the 
channel  between  the  coast  of  Florida  and  the  Bahamas  is  two 
hundred  miles  long  and  not  more  than  fifty  wide  ;  that  through 
that  long,  narrow,  and  difficult  channel  the  immense  trade, 
which  at  no  distant  period  would  constitute  more  than  half  of 
the  trade  of  the  Union,  would  pass.  "  The  principle  set  up  by 
the  British  government,"  he  said,  "  if  carried  out  to  its  fullest 
extent,  would  do  much  to  close  this  all-important  channel,  by 
rendering  it  too  hazardous  for  use.  She  has  only  to  give  an 
indefinite  extent  to  the  principle  applied  to  the  case  of  the 
'  Enterprise  '  and  the  work  would  be  done  ;  and  why  has  she 
not  as  good  a  right  to  apply  this  principle  to  a  cargo  of  sugar 
and  cotton  as  to  the  slaves  that  produce  it  ?  " 

Mr.  Calhoun  was  sustained  in  this  point  by  Mr.  King  of 
Alabama  and  by  Mr.  Grundy  of  Tennessee.  The  resolutions 
were  then  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations, 
and  promptly  reported  back  by  Mr.  Buchanan,  with  slight 

56 


442       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

modifications.  They  were  advocated  by  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr. 
Benton,  and  opposed  only  by  Mr.  Porter,  a  new  senator  from 
Michigan.  Seeing  that  eminent  senators  around  him  inter 
posed  no  objection  to  the  passage  of  the  resolutions,  he,  obey 
ing  the  dictates  of  his  own  judgment  and  conscience,  says 
Mr.  Giddings,  "  heroically  met  the  overwhelming  influence 
arrayed  against  him,  and  showed  the  most  cogent  reasons  for 
rejecting  the  resolutions,  by  exhibiting  the  absurdity  of  the 
attempt  to  change  the  law  of  nations  by  senatorial  resolution, 
and  the  yet  greater  absurdity  of  the  attempt  to  induce  the 
British  government  to  acknowledge  the  laws  of  slavery  and 
the  slave-trade  to  exist  and  be  enforced  within  her  ports." 
He  closed  by  moving  to  lay  the  resolutions  on  the  table,  and 
demanded  the  yeas  and  nays  on  his  motion  ;  and,  on  the  roll 
being  called,  thirty-three  senators  voted  for  them,  and  he  alone 
voted  against  them.  Several  senators  —  among  them  Web 
ster  and  Davis  of  Massachusetts,  Wright  of  New  York,  South 
ard  of  New  Jersey,  and  Smith  of  Indiana  —  declined  to  vote. 
The  resolutions  were  then  passed,  thirty-three  senators  voting 
for  them  and  none  against  them.  By  the  passage  of  these 
resolutions  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  under  the  lead  of 
Southern  senators,  sought  to  compel  the  British  government  to 
acknowledge  the  laws  and  forcibly  protect  the  interest  of  the 
slaveholding  States.  And  England,  who  had  just  emancipated 
her  own  bondmen,  was  required  at  this  bidding  to  ignore  the 
claims  of  justice  and  humanity  in  the  persons  of  these  slaves, 
and  perform  the  ignoble  service  of  recapturing  those  whom 
the  more  merciful  elements  had  set  free. 

The  "  Hermosa,"  another  slave-ship  that  sailed  from  Rich 
mond  in  1840  for  New  Orleans,  was  wrecked  on  a  British  island 
and  taken  into  Nassau,  where  the  slaves  claimed  their  right  to 
liberty  and  obtained  it.  A  New  Orleans  insurance  company 
that  had  taken  risks  on  the  cargo  was  called  on  for  indemnifi 
cation  for  the  slaves.  A  petition  was  presented  to  Congress  by 
Mr.  Barrow  of  Louisiana,  praying  that  measures  might  be 
taken  to  obtain  from  the  British  government  compensation  for 
the  slaves  thus  escaping.  On  the  presentation  of  this  petition 
he  declared  that  the  case  might  present  a  question  of  peace  or 


THE   COASTWISE   SLAVE-TRADE.  443 

war  with  England,  and  that  the  people  of  the  Southern  States 
were  the  last  to  submit  to  the  principles  of  international  law 
as  construed  by  the  authorities  of  that  country. 

In  four  instances  the  slaves  on  board  American  ships,  engaged 
in  the  coastwise  slave-trade,  had  found  freedom  in  the  Brit 
ish  islands.  The  slaveholders  were  much  exasperated ;  and, 
although  they  demanded  redress  with  great  vehemence  and 
pertinacity,  their  feelings  were  not  soothed  by  success.  An 
other  case  arose  in  the  autumn  of  1841,  under  circumstances 
calculated  to  intensify  excitement  and  imbitter  still  more  their 
feelings.  The  brig  "  Creole,"  of  Richmond,  with  one  hun 
dred  and  thirty-five  slaves  on  board,  sailed  for  New  Orleans 
in  the  latter  part  of  October.  On  the  evening  of  the  7th  of 
November,  near  the  Bahama  Islands,  nineteen  of  the  slaves, 
under  the  lead  of  Madison  Washington,  —  who  is  said  to  have 
escaped  to  Canada,  and  to  have  returned  South  with  the  reso 
lution  to  obtain  his  wife  or  perish  in  the  attempt,  —  rose  and 
obtained  possession  of  the  brig,  and  directed  her  to  be  taken 
into  Nassau,  where  she  arrived  two  days  afterward.  In  the 
struggle  John  R.  Howell,  a  slave-vender,  was  killed,  and  Cap 
tain  Gilford,  the  first  mate,  and  ten  of  the  crew,  were  wounded. 
These  self-emancipated  freemen  had  it  in  their  power  to  take 
the  lives  of  one  and  all  the  white  persons  on  board.  But  they 
rose  superior  to  revenge  and  retaliation.  Even  the  wounded 
captain  and  crew  testified  that  u  the  mutineers  said  that  all 
they  had  done  was  for  their  own  freedom."  They  proved  their 
object  was  not  to  take  life,  but  to  secure  liberty.  The  British  au 
thorities  placed  a  guard  on  board  the  vessel  and  investigated  the 
circumstances  of  the  case.  "  The  nineteen  "  of  the  slaves  were 
held  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  instructions  from  the  home 
government,  arid  the  others  were  allowed  to  go  free.  The  on> 
cers  of  the  brig  demanded  that  the  mutineers  should  be  left  on 
board,  to  be  taken  into  some  port  of  the  United  States  and 
tried  for  mutiny  and  murder ;  but  the  authorities  positively  re 
fused  to  give  them  up.  "  This  was  tantamount,"  says  Colonel 
Benton,  in  his  "  Thirty  Years'  View,"  "  to  an  acquittal,  and 
even  to  a  justification  of  all  they  had  done  ;  as,  according  to 
British  decisions,  a  slave  has  a  right  to  kill  his  master  to 
obtain  his  freedom."' 


* 
444       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

This  affair  greatly  inflamed  the  Southern  mind.  Southern 
leaders  stormed  and  Southern  presses  blustered.  They  de 
clared,  if  Great  Britain  would  not  listen  to  the  voice  of  reason, 
resort  must  be  had  to  some  other  mode  of  bringing  her  to  her 
senses  and  to  a  just  perception  of  the  law  of  nations  ;  that  the 
government  of  the  United  States  would  not  tamely  acquiesce 
in  such  gross  and  oft-repeated  invasions  of  its  national  rights, 
and  that  no  man  of  any  party  in  the  South  would  have  patience 
with  "  executive,  secretary,  or  minister  who  should  trifle  with 
their  impatience  or  compromise  their  rights." 

On  the  23d  of  December  Mr.  Barrow  of  Louisiana  presented 
a  memorial  from  an  insurance  company  in  New  Orleans  which 
had  taken  the  risk  on  these  slaves.  Mr.  Barrow  said  that  Con 
gress  should  act,  and  set  forth  to  the  country  and  the  world 
the  principles  of  international  law  which  were  recognized  by 
her  and  which  would  be  maintained  at  all  hazards.  He  wished 
to  trust  this  matter  to  other  agents  than  the  President  and  the 
Secretary  of  State  and  the  Secretary  of  the  British  Queen. 
"  The  property  of  the  South,"  he  said,  "  is  unsafe  ;  and,  if  it  is 
to  be  subjected  to  the  plundering  propensities  of  British  offi 
cials,  they  might  be  compelled  to  fit  out  armaments  and  de 
stroy  Nassau  and  other  nests  of  incendiaries  and  plunderers 
adjacent  to  our  coast." 

Mr.  Calhoun  regarded  the  case  of  the  "  Creole  "  as  one  of 
the  most  "  atrocious  and  insulting  outrages  "  ever  perpetrated 
by  one  civilized  government  upon  another.  He  proceeded  to 
denounce  it  as  "  a  case  of  naked  piracy,"  and  called  upon  the 
government  to  demand  "  the  pirates  "  for  punishment ;  and  he 
looked  to  every  man  who  had  "  an  American  heart  to  raise  his 
voice  and  his  arm  against  such  tyrannical  insolence  and  op 
pression."  His  colleague,  Mr.  Preston,  said  that  the  law  of 
nations  was  "  clear  and  imperative  "  on  the  question  in  dispute 
between  the  two  governments,  and  he  thought  Great  Britain, 
whose  government  was  in  the  hands  of  an  enlightened  and 
liberal-minded  statesman,  would  hardly  come  in  conflict  with 
"  this  government  on  such  an  untenable  position." 

Mr.  King  of  Alabama  was  exceedingly  belligerent.  He 
thought  these  lawless  attempts  of  Great  Britain,  that  grasping 


THE  COASTWISE    SLAVE-TRADE.  445 

at  universal  dominion,  would  "  render  war  inevitable,"  un 
less  she  retraced  her  steps.  The  memorial  was  then  referred 
to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations.  On  the  llth  of  Feb 
ruary  another  debate  arose  on  a  resolution,  introduced  by 
Mr.  Calhoun,  requesting  the  President  to  communicate  to  the 
Senate  any  authenticated  accounts  he  had  received  of  mur 
der  on  the  brig  "  Creole,"  and  the  wounding  of  the  captain 
and  mate,  by  slaves  on  board,  and  the  occurrences  which  took 
place  at  Nassau  after  the  arrival  of  the  vessel  at  that  port  ; 
what  steps  had  been  taken  by  the  Executive  for  the  punish 
ment  of  the  guilty,  the  redress  of  the  wrong  done  to  Southern 
citizens,  and  the  insult  offered  to  the  American  flag.  Mi\  Clay 
avowed  that  he  had  read  the  narration  of  the  transaction  with 
"  the  most  thrilling  and  appalling  feelings  "  ;  that  the  "  Creole  " 
had  been  thrown  on  the  Bahama  Islands  by  "  an  act  of  mutiny 
and  murder  "  ;  and,  if  the  British  authorities  sanctioned  "  the 
enormity,"  Americans  would  be  virtually  denied  the  benefits 
of  the  coastwise  trade  around  their  own  country,  for  their  ves 
sels  could  not  proceed  in  safety  from  one  port  to  another  with 
slaves  on  board. 

Mr.  King  seized  the  occasion  to  denounce  Northern  Aboli 
tionists  as  a  set  of  miserable  fanatics  and  contemptible  wretches, 
who  were  attempting  by  every  means  in  their  power  to  disturb 
the  harmony  of  the  government  and  violate  the  rights  of  the 
South.  He  said  it  was  settled  at  an  early  period  of  the  gov 
ernment  that  the  citizens  of  the  South  were  to  have  secured  to 
them  "  the  right  to  hold  slaves  against  the  world,"  and  he 
thought  "  the  days  of  this  government  were  numbered  if  any 
respectable  part  of  the  United  States  were  disposed  to  side  with 
Great  Britain  on  the  question  at  issue  ;  for  the  South  had 
rights,  and  they  would  maintain  them  at  all  hazard,  whether 
invaded  at  home  or  violated  abroad." 

The  resolution  was  adopted,  and  the  President  promptly  re 
sponded  through  Mr.  Webster,  Secretary  of  State,  showing  that 
the  facts  in  the  case  had  been  received  by  the  government,  and 
that  the  Secretary  had  received  instructions  to  prepare  a  de 
spatch  to  Mr.  Everett,  the  minister  at  the  Court  of  St.  James, 
and  that  it  would  be  done  without  delay.  On  moving  the  refer- 


446       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

ence  of  the  message  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  Mr. 
Calhoun  expressed  his  regret  that  it  was  not  satisfactory.  He 
had  supposed  that  prompt  measures  would  have  been  adopted, 
and  that  a  vessel  would  have  been  despatched  to  demand, 
through  our  minister  at  London,  that  the  criminals  should  be 
given  up  for  trial.  But  he  had  been  mistaken.  He  said  that  the 
outrage  of  the  British  government  could  not  have  been  greater, 
nor  more  clearly  contrary  to  the  law  of  nations,  if,  instead  of 
taking  the  persons  engaged  in  "  mutiny  and  murder  "  from  the 
"  Creole,"  they  had  entered  the  territory  of  the  United  States 
and  taken  them  "  from  our  jails." 

Mr.  Webster's  despatch  to  Mr.  Everett  was  speedily  prepared, 
at  once  called  for,  communicated  to  the  Senate,  and  published. 
It  gave  great  satisfaction  to  the  slaveholders.  As  soon  as  it 
was  read  in  the  Senate,  Mr.  Calhoun  rose  and  said  :  "  The  let 
ter  which  has  been  read  was  drawn  up  with  great  ability,  and 
covered  the  ground  which  has  been  assumed  by  all  parties  in 
the  Senate.  I  hope  that  it  will  have  a  beneficial  effect  upon 
the  United  States;  but  upon  Great  Britain,  coming  from  the 
quarter  it  does,  this  document  will  do  more  good  than  in  com 
ing  from  any  other  quarter." 

The  British  government  was  assured  by  Mr.  Webster  that 
the  case  was  one  "  calling  loudly  for  redress " ;  that  the 
"  Creole  "  was  passing  from  one  port  to  another  of  the  United 
States,  on  a  voyage  "  perfectly  lawful,"  with  persons  bound  to 
service  belonging  to  American  citizens,  and  recognized  as  prop 
erty  by  thje  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  in  those  States 
in  which  slavery  existed  ;  that  the  slaves  rose,  murdered  one 
man,  and  that  the  "  mutineers  and  murderers  "  took  the  vessel 
into  a  British  port.  He  declared  that  it  was  the  plain  and  ob 
vious  duty  of  the  authorities  of  Nassau  to  assist  in  restoring  to 
the  master  and  crew  their  vessel,  and  in  enabling  them  to  re 
sume  their  voyage  and  to  take  with  them  the  mutineers  and 
murderers  to  their  own  country  to  answer  for  their  crimes. 
This  extraordinary  position  and  claim  were  laid  before  the  Brit 
ish  government ;  but  all  efforts  to  secure  compensation  for  the 
slaves,  or  the  surrender  of  the  men  who  had  asserted  and  main 
tained  their  own  liberty,  were  unavailing.  England  declined 


CENSURE   OF   MR.   GIDDINGS.  447 

to  act  the  ignoble  part  of  a  slave-catcher  for  the  slave-traffickers 
of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Giddings,  then  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  was  so  impressed  with  the  positions  of  the  President  and 
Senate,  that  he  deemed  it  to  be  a  duty  he  owed  to  his  country 
to  combat  them.  He  drew  up  a  series  of  resolutions,  setting 
forth  that  prior  to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  each  State 
exercised  full  and  perfect  jurisdiction  over  slaves  in  its  own 
territory  ;  that  by  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  no  part  of 
that  jurisdiction  was  delegated  to  the  Federal  government ; 
that  by  the  Constitution  each  State  surrendered  to  the  Federal 
government  complete  jurisdiction  over  commerce  and  naviga 
tion  ;  that  slavery,  being  an  abridgment  of  the  natural  rights 
of  men,  could  exist  only  by  positive  municipal  law  ;  that, 
when  a  ship  belonging  to  a  citizen  of  any  State  left  the  waters 
of  the  United  States  and  entered  upon  the  high  seas,  the 
persons  on  board  became  amenable  to  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  ;  that  when  the  brig  u  Creole  "  left  Virginia  the  slavery 
laws  of  that  State  ceased  to  have  jurisdiction  over  the  persons 
on  board  ;  that  in  resuming  their  natural  rights  they  violated 
no  law  of  the  United  States,  nor  incurred  any  legal  penalties ; 
that  all  attempts  to  gain  possession  of  or  to  re-enslave  these 
persons  were  unauthorized  by  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the 
United  States  ;  that  all  attempts  to  exert  the  influence  of  the 
nation  in  favor  of  the  coastwise  slave-trade  was  subversive 
of  the  rights  of  the  people  of  the  free  States,  unauthorized 
by  the  Constitution,  and  prejudicial  to  the  national  charac 
ter. 

These  resolutions  were  submitted  to  the  consideration  of 
Mr.  Adams.  He  avowed  his  readiness  to  support  them,  ex 
cepting  the  one  denying  the  right  of  the  Federal  government 
to  abolish  slavery  in  the  States.  He  held  that  the  national 
government,  in  case  of  insurrection  or  war,  might,  under  the 
war-power,  abolish  slavery,  and,  with  statesmanlike  sagacity 
and  a  wise  forecast  of  possible  contingencies,  which  subse 
quent  events  proved  to  be  near  at  hand,  he  did  not  wish  to 
give  a  vote  that  would  be  quoted  by  the  friends  of  slavery  as  a 
denial  of  that  power  ;  "  but,"  he  added,  "  I  will  cheerfully 


448        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

sustain  all  but  that  which  denies  this  right  to  the  Federal 
government." 

When,  on  the  21st  of  March,  the  State  of  Ohio  was  called, 
Mr.  Giddings  introduced  these  resolutions,  and  gave  notice 
that  he  would  call  them  up  for  consideration  the  next  day. 
The  reading  of  the  resolutions  attracted  profound  attention, 
and  created  much  excitement.  Mr.  Ward,  a  Democratic 
member  from  New  York,  proposed  to  bring  the  House  to  an 
immediate  vote  by  demanding  the  previous  question.  Re 
marking  that  the  resolutions  were  too  important  to  be  adopted 
or  rejected  without  consideration,  Mr.  Everett  of  Vermont 
moved  to  lay  them  on  the  table  ;  but  his  motion  was  defeated 
by  a  large  majority.  Mr.  Holmes  of  South  Carolina,  rising 
under  great  excitement,  remarked  :  "  There  are  certain  topics, 
like  certain  places,  of  which  it  might  be  said,  l  Fools  rush  in 
where  angels  fear  to  tread.' '  The  House,  by  the  large  vote 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  to  sixty-one,  sustained  the  pre 
vious  question.  Mr.  Everett  asked  to  be  excused  from  voting. 
As  the  subject  was  very  important,  and  would  probably  come 
before  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  of  which  he  was  a 
member,  he  did  not  desire  to  express  an  opinion  until  he  had 
examined  it.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  high  character,  ripe  age, 
large  experience,  and  of  much  influence  with  his  party  and  in 
the  House.  Usually  moderate  and  cautious,  on  this  occasion 
he  seemed  to  be  influenced  by  the  excitement  around  him,  and 
expressed  his  "  utter  abhorrence  of  the  firebrand  course  of  the 
gentleman  from  Ohio."  Mr.  Fessenden,  then  a  young  and 
rising  member  of  the  House  from  Maine,  thought  the  resolu 
tions  were  too  important  to  be  voted  upon  without  greater  de 
liberation.  Mr.  Gushing,  then  understood  to  be  a  special  friend 
of  the  President  and  an  exponent  of  his  views,  after  read 
ing  the  resolutions  at  the  clerk's  table,  said  :  "  They  appear  to 
be  a  British  argument  on  a  great  question  between  the  British 
and  American  governments,  and  constitute  an  approximation 
to  treason  on  which  I  intend  to  vote  '  No.' ' 

At  the  request  of  Mr.  Fessenden,  Mr.  Giddings  withdrew 
the  resolutions,  remarking  that  they  would  be  published,  and 
gentlemen  would  have  time  to  examine  them  with  care,  and  he 


CENSURE   OF  MR.   GIDDINGS.  449 

would  present  them  the  next  day,  when  the  resolutions  would 
be  in  order.  Mr.  Botts  then  rose  and,  remarking  that  the  with 
drawal  of  the  resolutions  did  not  excuse  their  presentation,  sub 
mitted  a  preamble  and  resolution ;  the  first  setting  forth  that 
Mr.  Giddings  had  presented  a  series  of  resolutions  touching 
the  most  important  interest  connected  with  a  large  portion  of 
the  Union,  then  a  subject  of  negotiation  with  the  government 
of  Great  Britain  of  the  most  delicate  nature,  the  result  of 
which  "  might  involve  those  nations  and  perhaps  the  civil 
ized  world  in  war,"  in  which  mutiny  and  murder  were  justi 
fied  and  approved  in  terms  shocking  all  sense  of  law,  order, 
and  humanity ;  and  the  latter  declaring  that  this  House  holds 
that  "  the  conduct  of  the  said  member  is  altogether  incon 
sistent  and  unwarranted,  and  deserving  the  severest  condem 
nation  of  the  people  of  this  country,  and  of  this  body  in  par 
ticular."  Objection  being  made  to  the  consideration  of  the 
resolution,  Mr.  Botts  moved  a  suspension  of  the  rules,  but 
was  not  sustained  by  a  vote  of  the  House. 

As  Ohio  was  still  under  the  call  for  resolutions,  under  the 
rule,  Mr.  Weller,  a  Democratic  member  from  that  State, 
adopted  Mr.  Botts's  resolution  as  his  own,  offered  it,  and 
called  for  the  previous  question.  Several  members  questioned 
the  propriety  of  ordering  the  previous  question ;  but  Mr. 
Weller,  who  was  a  Democrat  of  the  most  intense  proslavery 
type,  persisted  in  demanding  it.  The  Speaker,  Mr.  White  of 
Kentucky,  decided  that  on  a  question  of  privilege  the  previous 
question  could  not  cut  off  a  member  from  his  defence.  Mr. 
Fillmore  appealed  from  the  decision ;  and  the  House  overruled 
the  Speaker  by  a  large  majority,  and  adjourned. 

Thus  arraigned  for  a  conscientious  discharge  of  public  duty, 
Mr.  Giddings  spent  the  entire  night  and  the  forenoon  of  the 
next  day  in  preparing  for  his  defence.  Calling  at  the  resi 
dence  of  Mr.  Adams,  for  the  purpose  of  consultation,  he  found, 
he  says,  u  the  aged  patriot  laboring  under  great  distress."  He 
expressed  to  Mr.  Giddings  the  fear  that  no  defence  would  be 
permitted  ;  that  the  question  would  be  taken  without  debate, 
and  the  vote  of  censure  passed.  Mr.  Giddings  anticipated  the 
vote  of  censure ;  but  he  suggested  that  the  reflections  of  the 

57 


450        RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

night  would  convince  members  of  "  the  impropriety  of  con 
demning  a  man  unheard."  To  this  suggestion  Mr.  Adams 
made  the  discriminating  and  suggestive  reply  :  "  You  are  not 
as  familiar  with  the  slaveholding  character  as  I  am.  Slave 
holders  act  from  impulse,  not  from  reflection.  They  act 
together  from  interest,  and  have  no  dread  of  the  displeasure 
of  their  constituents  when  they  act  for  slavery." 

On  the  assembling  of  the  House,  the  Speaker  remarked  that 
the  first  business  was  on  seconding  the  demand  for  the  pre 
vious  question.  Mr.  Weller  said  he  would  withdraw  his  de 
mand  for  the  previous  question  if  Mr.  Giddings  would  proceed 
with  his  defence,  with  the  understanding  that  it  should  be 
called  when  he  closed.  But,  Mr.  Giddings  refusing  to  make 
any  terms  to  secure  what  he  deemed  to  be  his  constitutional 
right,  the  previous  question  was  ordered  by  seven  majority. 
Mr.  Weller  then  moved  the  suspension  of  the  rules,  to  allow 
Mr.  Giddings  to  make  his  defence ;  but  the  Speaker  pro 
nounced  the  motion  out  of  order.  To  the  suggestion  of  Mr. 
Adams  that  while  the  previous  question  cut  off  other  members 
it  ought  not  to  apply  to  the  member  accused,  the  Speaker  re 
plied  that  the  House  had  decided  that  the  previous  question 
applied  to  cases  of  privilege,  and  the  privilege  of  one  was  the 
privilege  of  all. 

The  motion  was  made  to  hear  Mr.  Giddings  by  unani 
mous  consent,  and  it  was  announced  that  such  consent  had 
been  given.  Mr.  Giddings  then  said  :  "  Mr.  Speaker,  I  stand 
before  the  House  in  a  peculiar  position."  Mr.  Cooper  of 
Georgia  then  objected  to  his  proceeding,  and  he  took  his 
seat.  Members  gathered  around  Mr.  Cooper,  and  persuaded 
him  to  withdraw  his  objection  ;  but  it  was  renewed  by  Mr. 
Calhoun  of  Massachusetts,  who  declared  that  he  would  not 
see  a  member  of  the  House  speak  under  such  circumstances. 

Mr.  Giddings  states  that  when  he  rose  to  speak  he  had 
intended  to  say :  "  It  is  proposed  to  pass  a  vote  of  censure 
upon  me,  substantially  for  the  reason  that  I  differ  in  opinion 
from  a  majority  of  the  members.  The  vote  is  about  to  be 
taken  without  giving  me  an  opportunity  to  be  heard.  It  were 
idle  for  me  to  say  I  am  ignorant  of  the  disposition  of  a  major- 


CENSURE   OF   MR.   GIDDINGS.  451 

ity  of  the  members  to  pass  a  vote  of  censure.  I  have  been 
violently  assailed  in  a  personal  manner,  but  have  had  no 
opportunity  of  being  heard  in  reply.  Nor  do  I  ask  for  any 
favor  at  the  hands  of  gentlemen  ;  but,  in  the  name  of  an 
insulted  constituency,  in  behalf  of  one  of  the  States  of  this 
Union,  in  behalf  of  the  people  of  these  States  and  of  our  Fed 
eral  Constitution,  I  demand  a  hearing  in  the  ordinary  mode 
of  proceeding.  I  accept  no  other  privilege.  I  will  receive  no 
other  courtesy." 

The  House,  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  to 
sixty-nine,  adopted  the  vote  of  censure.  Mr.  Giddings  then 
rose  and,  taking  formal  leave  of  the  Speaker  and  officers  of 
the  House,  retired  from  the  hall.  As  he  reached  the  front 
door  he  met  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Crittenden.  Mr.  Giddings 
states  that  "  as  Mr.  Clay  extended  to  me  his  hand  he 
thanked  me  for  the  firmness  with  which  I  had  met  the  outrage 
perpetrated  upon  me,  and  declared  that  no  man  would  ever 
doubt  my  perfect  right  to  state  my  own  views,  particularly 
while  the  Executive  and  the  Senate  were  expressing  theirs." 
Mr.  Giddings  immediately  resigned,  returned  to  Ohio,  issued  an 
address  to  the  people  of  his  district,  was  re-elected  by  a  largely 
increased  majority,  and  in  five  weeks  took  his  seat  in  the 
House,  "  clothed  with  instructions  from  the  people  of  his 
district  to  re-present  his  resolutions,  and  maintain  to  the 
extent  of  his  power  the  doctrine  which  they  asserted."  He 
received  a  warm  greeting  from  the  friends  of  the  freedom  of 
debate,  who  had  bravely  stood  by  him  in  his  time  of  trial. 

The  action  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  thus  signally 
rebuked  by  Mr.  Giddings's  constituents,  was  also  condemned 
by  public  meetings,  whose  proceedings  were  presented  to  Con 
gress.  Even  some  Democratic  papers,  among  them  the  New 
York  "  Evening  Post,"  asserted  the  right  of  Mr.  Giddings  to 
present  his  resolutions.  And  William  C.  Bryant,  its  accom 
plished  editor,  declared  that  if  he  was  a  resident  of  Mr.  Gid 
dings's  district  he  would  use  every  honorable  means  to  secure 
his  re-election.  This  action  of  the  people  produced  most 
marked  effects  upon  Congress.  The  majority  who  censured 
Mr.  Giddings,  fearing  if  the  resolutions  were  again  intro- 


452       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

duced  they  would  be  compelled  to  vote  upon  the  principles  em 
bodied  in  them,  voted,  during  the  remainder  of  the  session, 
when  by  the  rules  resolutions  might  be  presented,  to  proceed  to 
other  business.  Finding  he  could  not  present  the  resolutions, 
he  reasserted  and  vindicated  the  principles  embodied  in  them 
in  an  able  and  effective  speech,  which  was  listened  to  without 
interruption.  Indeed,  notwithstanding  all  their  bluster  and 
arrogant  pretension,  there  seemed  from  that  time  a  marked 
falling-oif  in  their  zeal,  and  a  manifest  disposition  to  desist 
from  claims  they  had  just  declared  their  purpose  to  press  even 
to  and  beyond  the  very  verge  of  war.  And  this,  notwithstand 
ing  the  significant  fact  that  the  British  ministry  had  not  only 
refused  the  indemnity  so  clamorously  demanded,  but  declined 
to  deliver  up  Madison  Washington  and  his  compeers  of  the 
u  Creole's "  brave  "  nineteen,"  stigmatized  by  members  of 
Congress  as  "  murderers  and  mutineers."  When  Lord  Ash- 
burton  was  charged  with  the  mission  of  settling  all  questions 
of  difference  between  the  two  nations,  the  British  government 
especially  instructed  him  to  hold  no  correspondence  on  points 
pertaining  to  this  controversy. 

This  sudden  change  of  tactics  of  Southern  members  not 
only  appears  in  marked  contrast  with  their  previous  violent 
demonstrations,  but  provokes  no  very  flattering  estimate  of 
the  course  of  those  Northern  senators  who  had  not  a  single 
vote  to  cast  against  the  resolutions  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  which 
defiantly  demanded  what  even  the  South  itself  found  it  con 
venient  to  forget.  Indeed,  that  absence  of  a  single  negative, 
that  unbroken  silence,  spoke  louder  than  words.  Trumpet- 
tongued  it  proclaimed  the  vassalage  of  the  nation  to  the  Slave 
Power,  and  the  ignoble  and  cruel  bondage  under  which  the 
parties  and  public  men  of  those  days  were  held.  It  revealed 
the  humiliating  fact  that  they  were  obliged  to  smother  their 
convictions  and  ignore  the  claims  of  truth,  and  were  com 
pelled  to  take  the  weightiest  questions  of  government  and 
those  of  national  importance  from  the  high  court  of  reason 
and  conscience  into  the  secret  conclave  of  party  cabals,  in 
spired  by  the  spirit  of  slavery  and  under  the  discipline  of  the 
plantation.  If  the  time  ever  comes  when  "  things  "  shall  be 


CENSURE   OF   MR.   GIDDINGS.  453 

"  what  they  seem,"  and  conscience  and  candor  shall  take  the 
place  of  mere  policy  and  pretension,  it  will  be  regarded  as 
among  the  marvels  of  history  that  men  acting  from  such  mo 
tives  in 'their  public  capacity  should  ever  exhibit  anything  hon 
orable  and  hearty  in  their  personal  and  social  relations,  or  that 
a  representation  acquiescing  and  participating  in  such  an  ad 
ministration  of  public  affairs  could  be  anything  but  demoral 
ized  and  debauched  in  the  personnel  of  which  it  was  composed. 

Mr.  Giddings  had  been  appointed,  by  the  Speaker,  chairman 
of  the  Committee  on  Claims,  a  position  he  held  at  the  time  of 
his  resignation,  when  another  was  appointed  for  the  remainder 
of  the  session.  At  the  beginning  of  the  next  session,  an  un 
availing  effort  was  made  by  Southern  members  to  induce  the 
Speaker  not  to  reappoint  Mr.  Giddings  to  this  important  post. 
Mr.  White,  a  personal  friend  of  Mr.  Clay,  and  among  the  most 
liberal  of  Southern  statesmen,  had  pronounced  the  vote  of  cen 
sure  an  outrage,  and  without  hesitation  made  Mr.  Giddings 
chairman  again  of  the  committee.  Consisting  of  nine  mem 
bers,  it  was  composed  of  four  Northern  and  two  Southern 
Whigs,  one  Southern  and  two  Northern  Democrats.  The 
three  Democrats  and  two  Southern  Whigs  had  given  their 
votes  for  the  censure,  and  they  deemed  it  a  humiliation  to  sit 
with  him  as  chairman.  They  accordingly  determined  to  re 
vive  an  old  rule  of  the  House,  which  had  practically  become 
obsolete,  authorizing  the  committees  to  choose  their  own  chair 
men.  A  member  of  the  committee  apprised  Mr.  Giddings  of 
this  purpose,  and  advised  him  to  resign.  Having,  however, 
acted  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  conscience,  he  chose  to 
abide  the  result.  Mr.  Arnold,  a  slaveholding  Whig  of  Tennes 
see,  refusing  to  support  a  scheme  which  he  styled  an  outrage  on 
a  member  because  he  was  opposed  to  slavery,  the  project  fell 
through  and  Mr.  Giddings  was  permitted  to  retain  his  position. 

But  Mr.  Giddings's  earnest  and  outspoken  fidelity  to  princi 
ple  and  to  the  cause  of  human  rights  often  involved  him  in 
conflicts  and  exposed  him  to  personal  dangers,  which  well 
illustrated  at  once  the  coarse  brutality  and  domineering  vio 
lence  of  the  slave-masters  and  the  rough  road  they  were  called 
to  travel  who  dared  to  question  their  supremacy  and  oppose 


454       EISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN   AMERICA. 

their  policy.  A  somewhat  marked  example  occurred  near  the 
close  of  the  session  in  1845.  For  the  purpose  of  exhibiting 
the  rascality  of  slaveholding  demands,  and  the  guilty  sub 
serviency  and  complicity  of  the  government  in  yielding  to 
those  demands,  he  referred  to  the  treaty  of  Indian  Spring,  by 
which,  after  paying  the  slaveholders  of  Georgia  the  sum  of 
$  109,000  for  slaves  who  had  escaped  to  Florida,  it  added  the 
sum  of  $  141,000  as  compensation  demanded  for  "  the  off 
spring  which  the  females  would  have  borne  to  their  masters  had 
they  remained  in  bondage."  And,  said  Mr.  Giddings,  Con 
gress  actually  paid  that  sum  "  for  children  who  were  never 
born,  but  who  might  have  been  if  their  parents  had  remained 
faithful  slaves." 

Mr.  Giddings's  characterization  of  these  outrageous  and  inde 
cent  demands  and  of  this  utterly  indefensible  policy  greatly 
nettled  the  Southern  members.  Mr.  Black  of  Georgia,  in  a 
towering  passion,  poured  forth  a  torrent  of  coarse  invectives 
and  insinuations.  He  charged  that  Mr.  Giddings  had  been 
interested  in  the  horses  and  wagon  lost  by  Mr.  Torrey  in  his 
attempt  to  aid  escaping  fugitives  ;  that  Torrey  died  in  the  peni 
tentiary  ;  that  the  member  of  Ohio  ought  to  be  there  ;  and,  if 
Congress  could  decide  the  question,  that  would  be  his  doom. 
With  low-minded  impertinence,  he  advised  him  to  return  to 
his  constituents  to  "  inquire  if  he  had  a  character,"  asserting 
that  he  had  none  in  that  hall.  To  this  gross  assault  Mr.  Gid 
dings  replied  with  becoming  dignity  and  force.  Alluding  to 
the  policy  which  would  throw  around  all  executive  and  con 
gressional  action  in  behalf  of  slavery  the  shield  "  of  perpetual 
silence,"  he  said  he  did  not  hold  the  member  from  Georgia  so 
much  responsible  as  he  did  "the  more  respectable  members" 
who  stood  around  him,  for  the  display  of  that  "  brutal  coarse 
ness  which  nothing  but  the  moral  putridity  of  slavery  could 
encourage."  What  he  had  said,  he  contended,  were  historic 
facts  that  could  not  be  disproved.  To  the  personal  assault  he 
should  make  no  other  reply  than  that  he  stood  there  clothed 
with  the  confidence  of  an  intelligent  constituency,  while  his 
antagonist,  alluding  to  Mr.  Black's  failure  to  secure  a  re-elec 
tion,  had  been  discarded. 


CENSUEE   OF  ME.   GIDDINGS.  455 

Of  course,  language  so  direct  and  severe  did  but  fan  to  a 
fiercer  flame  the  fire  that  was  already  raging,  and  a  collision 
seemed  inevitable.  Mr.  Black,  approaching  Mr.  Giddings  with 
an  uplifted  cane,  said :  "  If  you  repeat  those  words  I  will  knock 
you  down."  The  latter  repeating  them,  the  former  was  seized 
by  his  friends  and  borne  from  the  hall.  Mr.  Dawson  of  Lou 
isiana,  who  on  a  previous  occasion  had  attempted  to  assault  him, 
approaching  him  and,  cocking  his  pistol,  profanely  exclaimed : 
"  I  '11  shoot  him  ;  by  G — d  I  '11  shoot  him !  "  At  the  same  mo 
ment,  Mr.  Causin  of  Maryland  placed  himself  in  front  of  Mr. 
Dawson,  with  his  right  hand  upon  his  weapon  concealed  in  his 
bosom.  At  this  juncture  four  members  from  the  Democratic 
side  took  their  position  by  the  side  of  the  member  from  Louisi 
ana,  each  man  putting  his  hand  in  his  pocket  and  apparently 
grasping  his  weapon.  At  the  same  moment  Mr.  Rayner  of 
North  Carolina,  Mr.  Hudson  of  Massachusetts,  and  Mr.  Foot 
of  Vermont,  came  to  Mr.  Giddings's  rescue,  who,  thus  con 
fronted  and  thus  supported,  continued  his  speech.  Dawson 
stood  fronting  him  till  its  close,  and  Causin  remained  facing 
the  latter  until  he  returned  to  the  Democratic  side.  Thus  de 
moralized  and  imbruted  seemed  the  men,  even  those  high  in 
station,  who  assumed  to  be  the  champions  of  slavery  and  its 
policy.  Upon  such  men  moral  considerations  were  lost.  The 
only  forces  they  ever  respected  were  those  of  physical  power. 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

THE  "AMISTAD"  CAPTIVES. 

Demands  of  Slavery. — The  "Amistad"  captured  by  the  Africans. — Taken  to 
New  London.  —  Africans  claimed  as  Slaves.  —  Demands  of  the  Spanish  Min 
ister.  —  Africans  before  the  District  Court.  — Conduct  of  District  Attorney.  — 
Instructions  of  the  Secretary  of  State.  —  A  Committee  appointed  to  aid  the 
Africans.  —  The  Attorney- General  of  the  United  States.  — Africans  held  for 
Trial.  —  Decision  of  the  Circuit  Court.  —  President.  —  Declaration  of  the 
Secretary  of  State.  —  Appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court.  —  Efforts  of  the  Com 
mittee.  —  Mr.  Adams  employed.  —  His  Argument.  —  Arraignment  of  the 
President  and  his  Cabinet.  —  Discharge  of  the  Prisoners.  —  Labors  of  Lewis 
Tappan. 

THE  year  1839  was  signalized  by  an  event  which,  with  its 
antecedent  and  attending  circumstances  and  consequent  re 
sults,  produced  a  deep  and  wide-spread  feeling  throughout  the 
country.  Involving  other  nations  and  people,  it  afforded  a 
marked  illustration  of  what  had  been  made  manifest  by  other 
developments,  —  that  slavery,  though  a  local  system  and  con 
fined  to  a  particular  section  of  the  country,  extended  its  in 
fluence  and  urged  its  demands  not  only  in  other  portions  of 
the  land,  but  in  other  lands.  Not  content  with  dominant  con 
trol  over  that  particular  section  cursed  with  its  immediate  pres 
ence,  it  would  subsidize  and  subvert  every  section,  and  make 
every  interest  subservient  to  its  exacting  behests.  Nor,  reach 
ing  farther  than  its  own  territorial  limits,  did  it  hesitate  to 
embroil  friendly  nations  with  its  inhuman  demands  and  un 
righteous  claims. 

By  the  laws  of  Spain  the  slave-trade  was  prohibited  ;  and 
Africans  introduced  by  slavers,  in  contravention  of  such  laws, 
were  declared  to  be  free.  In  violation  of  those  laws,  however, 
in  June,  1839,  a  slaver,  under  Portuguese  colors,  landed  a  cargo 
of  kidnapped  Africans  near  Havana.  A  few  days  after,  Ruiz 


THE    "AMISTAD"   CAPTIVES.  457 

and  Montes,  Spanish  slave-dealers,  purchasing  a  number  of 
them,  obtained  license  from  the  government  to  transport  fifty- 
two  of  them  as  "  legal  slaves  "  from  Havana  to  Principe,  about 
a  hundred  leagues  distant.  Of  course,  being  confined  in  bar- 
racoons,  they  had  no  one  to  represent  their  case  to  the  govern 
ment  or  captain-general,  and  to  vindicate  their  rightful  claim 
to  freedom.  But  failing  to  secure  their  liberty  by  legal  process 
they  took  the  matter  into  their  own  hands.  Embarked  on 
board  the  "  Amistad,"  five  days  out,  they  rose  upon  the  cap 
tain  and  crew,  under  the  lead  of  Cinque,  one  of  their  number, 
and  made  an  attempt  to  regain  their  liberty.  In  the  struggle 
which  ensued  they  killed  the  captain  and  cook,  but  spared  the 
lives  of  the  crew  and  passengers,  including  the  slave-dealers 
themselves.  They  then  ordered  the  vessel  to  be  steered  for 
their  native  land  ;  but,  unacquainted  with  navigation,  they 
were  deceived  by  those  who  profited  by  their  ignorance,  and 
the  "  Amistad  "  was  taken  into  American  waters.  Nor  did 
they  discover  their  mistake  until  they  reached  Long  Island 
Sound,  and  their  vessel  was  taken  into  New  London,  Con 
necticut,  by  Lieutenant  Gedney,  of  the  United  States  brig 
"  Washington."  Here  they  were  seized  and  committed  to 
prison  on  the  charge  of  murder,  by  a  warrant  issued  by  the 
district  judge  of  the  United  States  Court.  Ruiz  and  Montes 
claimed  the  ship,  cargo,  and  Africans,  though  the  latter  repre 
sented  that  they  were  free  men.  Lieutenant  Gedney  and 
some  of  the  inhabitants  of  Long  Island,  who  had  arrested  a 
number  of  the  negroes  going  on  shore  for  water,  claimed  sal 
vage,  as  if  they  had  been  so  many  bales  of  merchandise, 
showing  that  even  Northern  men,  when  they  could  profit  by 
ignoring  the  claims  of  humanity  and  the  rights  of  man,  were 
only  too  ready  to  do  it. 

The  Spanish  minister  at  Washington,  seemingly  oblivious  of 
the  infraction  of  the  laws  of  his  government  involved  in  this 
transaction,  demanded  the  vessel  and  cargo  under  the  treaty 
of  1795,  and  also  claimed  that  the  negroes  should  be  conveyed 
to  Havana  under  the  pretence  of  their  being  tried  by  the  Span 
ish  laws  which  they  had  violated.  He  pressed  his  claim  on 
the  ground  of  the  preservation  of  order  and  peace  in  Cuba. 

58 


458       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

He  even  went  so  far  as  to  maintain  that,  if  they  were  to  be 
tried,  convicted,  and  executed  as  pirates  and  assassins  in  Con 
necticut,  the  effect  would  not  be  so  salutary  as  if  they  were 
tried,  convicted,  and  executed  in  Cuba. 

Mr.  Holabird  was  at  that  time  district  attorney  of  Connec 
ticut,  and  Mr,  Judson  was  district  judge.  The  latter  had 
made  himself  notorious,  a  few  years  before,  by  his  opposition  to 
Miss  Prudence  CrandalPs  colored  school,  and  his  zeal  on  that 
occasion  had,  unquestionably,  secured  his  appointment.  The 
district  attorney  hastened  to  write  to  the  Secretary  of  State 
that  these  Africans  could  not  be  tried  for  murder  in  the  courts 
of  the  United  States.  In  his  anxiety  to  procure  their  convic 
tion,  he  inquired  whether  there  were  not  treaty  stipulations 
with  Spain  that  would  authorize  "  our  government "  to  deliver 
them  up  to  Spanish  authorities  ;  and,  if  so,  "  whether  it  would 
be  done  before  our  court  sits."  Of  course,  the  Secretary  of 
State  knew  there  was  no  such  treaty,  and  that  the  Constitu 
tion  gave  the  President  no  power  to  supersede  the  criminal 
warrants  of  the  United  States.  But  he  instructed  the  district 
attorney  "  to  take  care  that  no  proceedings  of  your  Circuit 
Court,  or  any  other  judicial  tribunal,  place  the  vessel,  cargo, 
or  slaves  beyond  the  control  of  the  Federal  Executive."  This 
assumption  by  the  Secretary  of  State  that  these  Africans  were 
slaves  afforded  but  another  illustration  of  the  influence  of  slav 
ery  over  the  government,  as  it  indicated  the  stern  control  of 
the  Slave  Power. 

The  demands  of  Mr.  Calderon,  the  Spanish  minister,  for  the 
surrender  of  these  Africans,  who  were  held  in  slavery  without 
even  the  forms  of  law,  and  who  had  so  heroically  asserted 
their  freedom  and  struck  brave  blows  to  effect  their  return  to 
their  native  land,  were  strenuously  advocated  by  the  Southern 
press  and  by  the  proslavery  journals  of  the  North.  These 
homeless  strangers  found,  however,  humane,  generous,  and 
discreet  friends.  A  committee,  consisting  of  S.  S.  Jocelyn, 
Joshua  Leavitt,  and  Lewis  Tappan,  was  appointed  in  New 
York  to  solicit  funds,  employ  counsel,  and  see  that  their  inter 
ests  and  rights  were  faithfully  cared  for.  Seth  P.  Staples  and 
Theodore  Sedgwick,  Jr.,  who  had  been  employed  by  this  com- 


THE    "AMISTAD"    CAPTIVES.  459 

mittee  to  act  as  their  counsel,  addressed  a  letter  to  President 
Van  Buren,  denying  that  these  Africans  were  slaves ;  contend 
ing  that  in  rising  they  only  obeyed  the  dictates  of  self-defence  ; 
and  praying  that  their  case  should  not  be  decided  "  in  the 
recesses  of  the  Cabinet,  where  these  unfriended  men  can  have 
no  counsel  and  can  produce  no  proof ;  but  in  the  halls  of  Jus 
tice,  with  the  safeguards  she  throws  around  the  unfriended  and 
oppressed."  This  letter  was  submitted  to  Mr.  Grundy,  the 
Attorney-General  of  the  United  States.  He  was  a  devotee  of 
slavery  and  a  violent  and  bitter  opponent  of  emancipation. 
As  a  senator  he  had  manifested  his  hatred  of  antislavery 
men,  and  had  shamelessly  avowed  his  approval  of  lynching 
Abolitionists.  Of  course,  he  looked  with  horror  upon  the 
heroic  conduct  of  these  black  men,  and  was  in  favor  of  surren 
dering  'them  to  the  Spanish  authorities.  He  avowed  that  he 
could  not  see  any  "  legal  principle  upon  which  the  government 
would  be  justified  in  going  into  an  investigation  for  the  pur 
pose  of  ascertaining  the  facts  set  forth  in  the  papers  clearing 
the  vessel  from  one  Spanish  port  to  another "  as  evidence 
whether  or  not  these  negroes  were  slaves. 

The  lives  and  liberties  of  these  Africans  were  in  peril ;  but 
the  first  law  officer  of  the  United  States  government  saw  no 
legal  principle  involved,  on  which  the  courts  of  the  country 
could  inquire  into  the  genuineness  of  papers  believed  to  be 
spurious  by  all  persons  not  influenced  by  interest  or  passion. 
He  even  went  so  far  as  to  say  that,  as  these  negroes  were 
charged  with  violating  Spanish  laws,  it  was  proper  that  they 
should  be  surrendered  to  that  government,  so  that,  if  they  had 
violated  any  of  its  laws,  "  they  might  not  escape  punishment." 
Mr.  Grundy  had  the  reputation  in  Tennessee  of  being  a  skilful 
criminal  lawyer.  But  he  went  so  far  as  even  to  avow  it  as  his 
opinion  that  the  proper  mode  of  executing  the  treaty  would  be 
for  the  President  to  issue  his  order  directing  the  marshal  to  de 
liver  the  vessel  and  cargo  to  such  persons  as  might  be  desig 
nated  by  the  Spanish  minister.  Thus,  in  his  opinion,  the 
President  was  to  constitute  himself  "  court  and  jury."  Was  it 
not  strange  indeed  that  he  should  have  forgotten  that  the 
President  of  the  United  States  had  no  authority  to  surrender 


460        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

fugitives  from  justice  to  foreign  governments  unless  authorised 
to  do  so  by  treaty  stipulations  ? 

The  Circuit  Court  assembled  at  Hartford  on  the  17th  of  Sep 
tember.  The  Africans  were  held  in  custody  on  the  charge  of 
murder.  An  attachment  was  also  issued  from  the  District 
Court  against  the  "  Amistad  "  and  her  cargo  in  behalf  of  Ruiz 
and  Montes,  and  of  Lieutenant  Gedney  for  salvage  on  vessel 
and  cargo.  The  district  attorney,  in  behalf  of  the  govern 
ment,  claimed  possession  of  the  vessel ;  so  that  the  negroes  if 
they  were  slaves  could  be  returned  to  their  Spanish  owners, 
and  if  they  were  free  could  be  returned  to  Africa,  according 
to  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  of  1819.  Justice  Thompson, 
of  the  Circuit  Court,  decided  that  the  Africans  could  not  be 
held  for  trial  for  murder  committed  on  the  seas,  on  board  of  a 
Spanish  vessel ;  but  he  refused  to  discharge  them,  on  the 
ground  that  they  were  held  in  custody  by  the  District  Court  in 
consequence  of  libels  and  attachments  against  them. 

The  new  Spanish  minister,  De  Argaiz,  on  the  26th  of  No 
vember,  in  a  communication  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  denied 
the  right  of  the  courts  of  the  United  States  to  take  cognizance 
of  the  case,  and  complained  that,  in  consequence  of  delay,  pub 
lic  vengeance  had  not  been  satisfied  ;  "  for,  be  it  recollected," 
he  added,  "  that  the  legation  of  Spain  does  not  demand  the 
delivery  of  slaves,  but  of  assassins."  In  another  communica 
tion  he  states  that  the  Secretary  of  State  informed  him  that 
the  District  Court,  when  it  should  meet  on  the  7th  of  January, 
might  order  the  restitution  of  the  vessel,  cargo,  and  negroes, 
and  that  it  would  be  necessary  for  the  Spanish  government  to 
take  charge  of  them  as  soon  as  the  court  should  pronounce  its 
sentence.  Thus  the  Secretary  of  State  not  only  anticipated 
the  action  of  the  District  Court,  but  warned  the  Spanish  minis 
ter  to  take  charge  of  these  negroes  as  soon  as  the  decision  of 
the  court  should  be  known. 

This  minister  also  preferred  the  bold  request  that  the  Presi 
dent  should  order  the  transportation  of  the  negroes  in  a  gov 
ernment  vessel  to  Cuba,  immediately  on  their  release.  Nor 
did  the  President  refuse  even  this  extraordinary  demand, 
but  gave  immediate  orders  that  such  a  vessel  should  be  in 


THE    "AMISTAD"   CAPTIVES.  461 

readiness  to  receive  and  convey  them  to  Cuba,  with  instruc 
tions  to  deliver  them  to  the  captain-general  of  that  island. 
And  that  vessel  was  actually  anchored  off  the  harbor  of  New 
Haven  three  days  after  the  court  assembled,  to  be  in  readiness, 
as  falsely  alleged,  to  give  these  negroes  an  "  opportunity  to 
prove  their  freedom,"  when  it  had  been  asserted  by  the  minis 
ter  himself  that  they  were  "  claimed  as  assassins,  and  not  as 
slaves."  Before  the  court  assembled  Lieutenants  Gedney  and 
Meade  were  ordered  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness  to  go  to 
Cuba  with  the  negroes.-  They  had  captured  the  "  Amistad  "  ; 
and  they  were  ordered  to  go  to  Cuba,  at  the  expense  of  the 
United  States,  "  for  the  purpose,"  as  alleged,  "  of  affording 
their  testimony  in  any  proceedings  that  may  be  ordered  by  the 
authorities  of  Cuba  in  the  matter."  They  were  not  sent  to 
Cuba  to  prove  the  freedom  of  the  negroes  ;  but  to  establish  the 
fact  that  the  vessel  was  in  their  possession,  —  a  fact  that  would 
aid,  not  in  giving  them  their  freedom,  but  in  sending  them  to 
death. 

The  court,  however,  decided  that  the  papers  of  Ruiz  and 
Montes  were  fraudulent ;  that  the  negroes  were  native  Africans 
illegally  imported  ;  that  they  were  not  slaves  ;  and  that  they 
should  be  sent  back  to  Africa,  according  to  the  treaty  of  1819. 
No  sooner  was  the  decision  made  than,  by  order  of  the  Secre 
tary  of  State,  the  district  attorney  took  an  appeal  to  the  Circuit 
Court.  Indeed,  every  facility  was  afforded  by  the  officials  of 
the  government  to  the  Spanish  minister  and  to  the  pretended 
owners  of  the  negroes  to  carry  out  their  inhuman  and  illegal 
purpose.  The  district  attorney  had  requested  assistant  coun 
sel,  and  the  sum  of  two  hundred  dollars  was  allowed  for  that 
purpose  ;  and  for  that  paltry  amount  Ralph  I.  Ingersoll,  a 
Democratic  politician  and  lawyer,  who  afterward  represented 
the  government  at  the  Court  of  St.  Petersburg,  undertook  the 
task. 

The  district  attorney,  who  seemed  equally  intent  with  the 
Spanish  minister  and  the  administration  to  secure  the  return 
to  Cuba  and  to  death  of  these  victims  of  slaveholding  and 
piratical  zeal,  sent  a  messenger  to  Washington  to  correct  a 
clerical  mistake  in  the  President's  warrant;  so  that  they 


462        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

might  be  held,  it  was  said,  "  should  the  pretended  friends 
of  the  negroes  obtain  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus"  Mr.  Forsyth 
hastened  to  have  the  error  corrected,  and  in  returning  it  be 
trayed  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  President  and  his  Cabinet 
by  this  unmistakable  declaration  :  "  I  have  to  state,  by  direc 
tion  of  the  President,  that,  if  the  decision  of  the  court  is  such 
as  is  anticipated,  the  order  of  the  President  is  to  be  carried 
into  execution,  unless  an  appeal  shall  actually  have  been  inter 
posed.  You  are  not  to  take  it  for  granted  that  it  will  be  in 
terposed."  The  meaning  of  this  instruction  was  that,  if  the 
counsel  for  the  Africans  did  not  instantly  make  an  appeal,  they 
were  to  be  hurried  on  board  the  "  Grampus,"  a  national  vessel, 
sent  for  the  purpose,  and  carried  to  Cuba  for  trial.  Indeed,  so 
much  in  earnest  were  the  friends  of  the  measure  that  on  the 
very  day  the  court  assembled  the  order  had  been  sent  by  the 
President  to  the  marshal  for  that  very  purpose.  And  so  fla 
gitious  and  barefaced  was  deemed  this  order,  that  some  of  Mr. 
Van  Buren's  friends  afterward  represented  that  it  was  issued 
without  his  knowledge  by  his  sanguine  and  not  over-scrupulous 
secretary,  who  seemed  to  have  acted  on  the  assumption  of  the 
Spanish  minister  that  the  trial  and  conviction  of  the  Africans 
in  Cuba  would  exert  a  more  salutary  influence  than  their  trial 
and  conviction  here. 

An  appeal  had  been  taken  to  the  Circuit  Court  which,  through 
Justice  Thompson,  affirmed  the  decision  of  the  District  Court. 
An  appeal  was  then  taken  to  the  Supreme  Court.  Conse 
quently,  when  an  effort  was  made  by  Mr.  Baldwin,  one  of  the 
counsel  for  the  Africans,  at  the  September  term,  to  have  the 
appeal  dismissed,  the  judge  decided  that,  as  an  appeal  had  been 
taken,  by  the  consent  of  both  parties,  to  the  Supreme  Court, 
that  motion  could  only  be  made  there.  At  the  same  time  un 
successful  efforts  were  made  by  Mr.  Tappan  and  others,  through 
Mr.  Baldwin  and  Mr.  Kimberly,  to  secure  from  the  judge  their 
release  from  prison  in  order  that  they  might  be  more  comfort 
ably  cared  for  by  their  friends,  and  that  proper  attention  might 
be  given  to  their  education. 

For  this  trial  before  the  Supreme  Court  the  most  ample  prep 
arations  were  made.  The  committee,  without  stint  of  care 


THE    "AMISTAD"    CAPTIVES.  463 

or  money,  had  determined  that  no  means  within  their  reach 
should  be  spared  to  make  it  worthy  of  the  august  tribunal, 
and  the  more  august  cause.  In  addition  to  the  four  able 
lawyers  already  engaged,  they  sought  the  aid  of  John  Quincy 
Adams,  the  venerable  ex-president,  the  old  man  eloquent.  He 
promptly  responded  to  the  call ;  and,  without  other  fee  than 
the  consciousness  of  doing  good,  brought  his  great  learn 
ing  and  forensic  ability,  his  commanding  position  and  well- 
earned  reputation,  to  the  advocacy  of  the  cause  of  these  help 
less  men. 

In  his  plea,  of  great  ability,  learning,  and  eloquence,  of 
some  three  hours'  length,  he  presented  the  case  not  only  with 
a  cogent  argument  in  behalf  of  his  pagan  clients,  but  with  stern 
condemnation  of  the  government  and  its  obsequious  officials, 
from  the  President  downward,  who  were  exhibiting  such  un 
seemly  alacrity  to  do  the  bidding  of  the  fleshmongers,  and 
who  were,  he  showed,  carrying  out,  in  law  and  fact,  the  slave- 
pirate's  voyage  that  began  on  the  coast  of  Africa.  He  main 
tained  that  these  Africans  had  been  torn  from  their  own  coun 
try,  shipped  against  the  laws  of  Spain,  against  the  laws  of  the 
United  States,  against  the  laws  of  nations ;  that  their  passage 
on  the  "  Amistad  "  was,  in  law  and  in  fact,  a  continuance  of  the 
original  voyage ;  that  sixteen  had  perished  through  the  cruel 
treatment  they  had  received  from  Ruiz  and  Montes,  and  that 
their  ghosts  must  sit  heavy  on  their  souls  through  the  closing 
hours  of  life.  He  referred  to  the  extraordinary  order  of  the 
Secretary  of  State  to  the  district  attorney  of  Connecticut  to 
take  care  lest  the  decisions  of  that  court  or  any  other  court 
should  place  these  Africans  beyond  the  control  of  the  Presi 
dent.  He  said  it  was  in  consequence  of  that  order  the  case 
had  reached  the  Supreme  Court.  Instead  .of  the  course  he 
had  pursued,  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  of  State  to  have 
instantly  answered  the  Spanish  minister,  and  to  have  told  him 
that  his  demands  were  utterly  inadmissible,  and  that  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  had  no  power  to  do  the  things  he 
required.  He  should  have  said  that  he  could  not  deliver  up 
the  ship  to  the  owner,  because  that  owner  was  dead  ;  that 
the  question  depended  upon  the  courts  ;  that  a  declaration  to 


464       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

the  President  that  the  courts  of  the  United  States  had  no 
authority  to  try  the  case  involved  an  offensive  demand  ;  and 
that  delivering  up  the  negroes  by  the  President,  as  required, 
and  sending  them  beyond  the  seas  for  trial,  thus  making  the 
President  a  mere  "  constable,  a  catchpole,"  was  also  inadmis 
sible,  as  the  President  had  no  power  to  arrest  and  deliver  up 
any  person  whatever.  He  said  the  Secretary  of  State  should 
have  set  the  President  right  in  this  matter  ;  but  that  he  had 
never  answered  one  of  these  demands,  had  never  corrected  one 
of  these  representations,  nor  asserted  the  rights  of  the  nation 
against  these  extraordinary  and  unauthorized  demands. 

"  He  has  degraded  the  country,"  said  Mr.  Adams,  "  in  the 
face  of  the  whole  civilized  world,  not  only  by  allowing  these 
demands  to  remain  unanswered,  but  by  proceeding,  I  am 
obliged  to  say,  throughout  the  whole  transaction,  as  if  the 
Executive  were  earnestly  desirous  to  comply  with  every  one 
of  these  demands."  Inquiring  why  the  Spanish  minister  per 
sisted  in  his  pretensions,  he  answered  his  own  question  by 
saying  that  it  was  because  "  he  was  not  told  instantly,  without 
the  delay  of  an  hour,  that  this  government  could  never  admit 
such  a  claim,  and  would  be  offended  if  they  were  repeated, 
or  any  portion  of  them."  "  Yet  all  these  claims,"  he  said, 
"  monstrous,  absurd,  and  inadmissible  as  they  are,  have  been 
urged  and  repeated  for  eighteen  months  on  our  government, 
and  an  American  Secretary  of  State  evades  answering  them, 
—  evades  it  to  such  an  extent  that  the  Spanish  minister 
reproaches  him  for  not  answering  his  arguments."  He  also 
referred  to  the  singular  conclusion  to  which  Mr.  Grundy,  the 
Attorney-General,  arrived  in  advising  that  the  President  should 
give  an  order  for  the  delivery  of  the  slaves,  as  he  assumed 
them  to  be,  to  the  Spanish  authorities.  He  said  that  the 
American  Secretary  of  State  had  told  the  Spanish  minister 
that  the  Cabinet  had  adopted  that  opinion  ;  and  he  asked  why 
the  President  and  his  Cabinet  had  not  acted  upon  it,  —  why 
they  had  not  delivered  these  men,  being  at  that  time  in  the 
judicial  custody  of  the  courts  of  the  United  States,  to  the 
Spanish  government.  "  Why,"  he  asked,  "  did  not  the  Presi 
dent  send  an  order  at  once  to  the  marshal  to  seize  these  men, 


THE   "AMISTAD"   CAPTIVES.  465 

and  ship  them  beyond  the  seas,  or  deliver  them  to  the  Spanish 
minister  ?  I  am  ashamed  —  I  am  ashamed  of  my  country  — 
that  such  an  opinion  should  have  been  delivered  by  any  public 
officer,  especially  by  the  legal  counsellor  of  the  Executive.  I 
am  ashamed  to  stand  up  before  the  nations  of  the  earth  with 
such  an  opinion  recorded  before  us  as  official ;  and,  still  more, 
adopted  by  the  Cabinet,  which  did  not  dare  to  do  the  deed." 

This  terrible  arraignment  by  Mr.  Adams  of  the  administra 
tion  and  its  official  advisers  will  seem  to  be  richly  merited  by 
those  who  have  read  the  correspondence.  Mr.  Forsyth  was  an 
able  man,  both  in  the  Senate  and  in  the  Cabinet,  ready  in 
debate,  and  a  leading  man  in  his  party.  Deeply  imbued  with 
its  spirit,  like  the  extreme  men  of  his  section,  he  was  blindly 
devoted  to  the  slave  system.  This  clouded  his  judgment,  per 
verted  his  conscience,  and  led  him  to  indorse  conduct  and 
defend  positions  which  otherwise  his  training  and  experience 
in  public  affairs  must  have  shown  him  to  be  wholly  untenable 
and  wrong.  And  yet,  with  all  this  explanation,  none  can 
read  the  correspondence  evoked  by  this  case  —  not  merely  of 
Southern  men  like  Forsyth  and  Grundy,  but  of  a  Northern 
President  and  his  officials  in  Connecticut  —  without  sharing 
largely  in  the  feeling  of  shame  which  Mr.  Adams  confessed  in 
his  plea  before  the  Supreme  Court. 

Mr.  Adams  closed  with  a  tender  allusion  to  the  change  in 
the  personnel  and  surroundings  of  the  court  since  his  admis 
sion  to  practise  before  it,  thirty-seven  years  before,  which 
greatly  affected  all  present.  The  opinion  of  the  court  was 
delivered  by  Justice  Story.  It  held  that  the  Africans  were 
kidnapped  and  unlawfully  transported  to  Cuba ;  that  they 
were  purchased  by  Ruiz  and  Montes  with  a  knowledge  of  the 
fact ;  that  they  were  free  ;  that  they  did  not  become  pirates 
and  robbers  in  taking  possession  of  the  "  Amistad,"  and  in 
attempting  to  regain  their  native  country;  that  there  was 
nothing  in  the  treaty  with  Spain  that  justified  the  claim  for 
their  surrender ;  and  that  the  United  States  was  bound  to 
respect  their  rights,  as  much  as  those  of  Spanish  subjects. 
The  decision  was  pronounced  in  these  words  :  "  Our  opinion  is, 
that  the  decree  of  the  Circuit  Court  affirming  that  of  the  Dis- 

59 


466       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

trict  Court,  ought  to  be  affirmed  except  so  far  as  it  directs  the 
negroes  to  be  delivered  to  the  President,  to  be  transported  to 
Africa,  in  pursuance  of  the  Act  of  the  3d  of  March,  1819 ; 
and  as  to  this  it  ought  to  be  reversed,  and  that  the  said 
negroes  be  declared  to  be  free,  and  be  dismissed  from  the  cus 
tody  of  the  court  and  go  without  day." 

As  soon  as  the  decision  of  the  court  was  pronounced,  Mr. 
Adams  addressed  to  Lewis  Tappan  this  exultant  note  :  "  The 
captives  are  free.  The  part  of  the  decree  of  the  District 
Court  which  placed  them  at  the  disposal  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  to  be  sent  to  Africa,  is  removed.  They 
are  to  be  discharged  from  the  custody  of  the  marshal  —  FREE. 
The  rest  of  the  decision  of  the  court  below  is  affirmed." 

This  result  was  very  gratifying  to  the  better  portion  of  the 
country ;  but  it  must  have  been  specially  gratifying  to  Mr. 
Tappan,  to  whom  by  common  consent,  more  than  to  any  other 
man  in  America,  were  the  Africans  indebted  for  their  deliver 
ance  and  freedom.  Mr.  Leavitt,  a  member  with  Mr.  Tappan 
of  the  committee,  well  expressed  the  general  sentiment  of 
those  who  knew  :  "  His  determined  benevolence,  his  untiring 
vigilance,  his  never-failing  resources  in  times  of  difficulty,  his 
immovable  decision  of  character,  and  his  facility  in  the  de 
spatch  of  business,  have  often  stood,  humanly  speaking,  be 
tween  them  and  defeat There  is  not  another  man  who 

both  could  and  would  have  done  what  he  has  done."  Nor  did 
he  cease  his  labors  when  they  were  rescued  from  the  very  jaws 
of  impending  destruction.  Leaving  his  large  and  exacting 
business,  he  spent  days,  and  weeks  even,  in  visiting  New  Eng 
land  and  other  portions  of  the  North  in  their  behalf,  coun 
selling  with  friends,  soliciting  subscriptions,  and  perfecting 
arrangements,  which  were  afterward  carried  into  effect,  for 
making  their  return  to  Africa  the  beginning  of  the  Mendi  Mis 
sion,  which  has  been  sustained  to  the  present  time. 

Though  the  claims  of  Ruiz  and  Montes,  the  demands  of  the 
Spanish  minister,  and  the  machinations  of  the  administration 
had  been  baffled,  and  the  captives  restored  to  their  native 
land,  additional  efforts  were  made  in  behalf  of  the  claimants. 
In  1844,  Charles  J.  Ingersoll  of  Pennsylvania,  chairman  of 


THE    "AMISTAD"    CAPTIVES.  467 

the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  in  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives,  reported  a  bill  to  pay  the  sum  of  seventy  thousand 
dollars  to  the  pretended  owners  of  the  "  Amistad  "  captives. 
The  report  was  long  and  elaborate,  and  its  author  moved  the 
printing  of  ten  thousand  copies.  Mr.  Giddings  at  once  as 
sailed  and  demolished  its  baseless  assumptions  and  fallacious 
reasonings.  A  motion  was  made  to  lay  it  on  the  table  ;  but 
its  author  recoiling  from  the  well-directed  blows  of  Mr.  Gid 
dings,  learning  that  Mr.  Adams  was  intending  to  follow,  and 
seeking  to  avert  the  still  further  damage  he  justly  apprehended 
from  his  learning,  logic,  and  fervid  eloquence,  voted  himself 
for  the  motion. 

Though  Mr.  Ingersoll's  cowardly  action  prevented  Mr.  Adams 
from  making  his  speech  in  the  House,  it  did  not  prevent  its  pub 
lication  in  the  papers  as  a  speech  intended  to  be  made.  Mas 
ter  of  the  subject,  his  feelings  deeply  interested  by  his  former 
connection  with  the  case,  and  exasperated  by  the  dastardly 
and  dishonorable  proposition  to  pay  these  base  and  bloody  men, 
his  speech  was  a  merciless  exposure  of  the  falsehoods  of  the  re 
port,  and  a  deserved  excoriation  of  him  who  was  willing  to  pros 
titute  the  power  and  property  of  the  government  for  ends  so  mer 
cenary  and  mean.  He  fitly  characterized  the  zeal  manifested 
by  the  committee  in  behalf  of  these  infamous  slave-traders  ; 
the  unfair  dealing  of  their  report  with  the  laws  of  the  land,  its 
treaties,  and  the  judges  of  its  courts  ;  its  sympathy  with  slav 
ery  and  the  slave-trade,  betrayed  in  its  assertion  that  the  act 
of  Congress  declaring  the  slave-trade  piracy  to  be  a  "  prepos 
terous  enactment  "  ;  and  that  the  article  in  the  treaty  of  Ghent 
for  the  entire  abolition  of  the  traffic  was  put  in  by  Great 
Britain,  from  sinister  motives  and  for  selfish  purposes. 

Referring  to  Mr.  Giddings's  speech,  he  said  that  it  "  had  ex 
posed  to  the  scorn  and  contempt  of  the  House  some  of  the 
false  and  spurious  principles  of  international  law  thick  sown 
throughout  the  report "  ;  but  "  the  putrid  mass  of  personal 
slander"  poured  upon  the  district  attorney  and  judge,  and 
upon  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
has  not  been  exposed  as  it  deserves.  Mr.  Ingersoll  had  stated 
that  Lieutenant  Gedney  had  taken  possession  of  the  "  Amis- 


468       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

tad  "  on  the  26th  of  August,  1840,  instead  of  the  26th  of 
August,  1839 ;  and  on  this  mistake  or  misstatement  he  had 
reared  his  argument  and  made  his  arraignment.  With  scath 
ing  denunciation  and  withering  sarcasm  Mr.  Adams  thus  char 
acterized  this  change  of  date :  "  The  masterpiece,"  he  said, 
"  of  the  whole  report  is  the  falsification,  on  its  first  page,  of 
the  date  of  their  seizure  of  the  '  Amistad  '  and  the  negroes 
by  Lieutenant  Gedney.  Upon  that  falsehood  hinges  all  the 
subsequent  semblance  of  an  argument  to  discredit  the  decis 
ion  of  the  courts  that  the  negroes  were  persons  just  landed, 
and  not  persons  longer  in  the  country  and  familiar  with  the 
language,  —  freemen,  and  not  slaves.  Restore  the  true  date, 
August  26,  1839,  and  the  long  train  of  subsequent  argumen 
tation  to  vilify  the  judges  and  shatter  their  righteous  judg 
ment  loses  even  the  brightness  of  ingenious  sophistry.  It  is 
coarse,  glaring,  stupid,  shameless,  unmitigated  falsehood.  Re 
store  the  true  date, 

'  And  all  the  demon  starts  up  from  the  toad. '  " 

Nor  did  Mr.  Adams  spare  President  Van  Buren,  or  his  Sec 
retary  of  State,  Mr.  Forsyth,  or  his  Attorney-General,  Mr. 
Grundy.  Referring  to  the  order  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  which  he 
characterized  as  the  most  extraordinary  act  of  despotism  ever 
performed  by  a  President  of  the  United  States,  to  the  marshal 
of  Connecticut  to  deliver  on  board  the  schooner  "  Grampus  " 
the  negroes  of  the  "  Amistad,"  he  asked  :  "  Was  this  order 
given  in  a  country  where  the  rights  of  person  are  words  with 
out  meaning  ?  in  the  Kingdom  of  Dahomey  ?  in  the  region 
where  the  bowstring  is  the  warrant  of  execution  ?  It  was 
given  in  the  land  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  in  the 
land  of  the  self-evident  truths.  It  was  given  by  the  President 
of  the  United  States.  It  was,  of  course,  null  and  void  ;  and 
if  before  the  decision  of  the  court  it  had  been  delivered  to  the 
marshal,  and  he  had  executed  it,  he  would  have  staked  not 
only  the  lives  of  the  negroes,  but  his  own  head,  and  that  of 
Martin  Van  Buren,  the  signer  of  the  order,  upon  the  event." 
The  report  and  bill  were  never  acted  upon,  and  the  country 
was  spared  the  disgrace  of  paying  a  claim  so  preposterous  and 
wicked ;  but  not  the  disgrace  of  an  administration  and  many 


THE    "AMISTAD"    CAPTIVES.  469 

of  the  leading  members  of  the  government  who  favored  it  and 
gave  it  their  personal  and  official  sanction. 

In  all  the  acts  of  slavery's  grim  tragedy  there  have  been  few- 
scenes  which  presented  more  elements  of  interest  than  that  of 
the  u  Amistad  "  captives.  With  two  continents  and  the  wide 
Atlantic  for  its  theatre  ;  with  the  robber  chiefs  of  Africa,  the 
slave-pirates  of  the  ocean,  the  representatives  of  a  European 
monarchy,  and  an  American  republic  for  actors,  seemingly  en 
gaged  in  a  common  cause  and  inspired  by  a  common  spirit ;  it 
presented  through  the  whole,  with  dramatic  variety  and  force, 
the  strangest  contrasts  and  the  most  unlooked-for  and  contra 
dictory  combinations.  It  presented  barbarism  in  its  rudest  and 
most  repulsive  aspects,  and  Christianity  in  its  most  attractive 
and  lovely  attitude.  It  began  with  the  midnight  hunt  for  cap 
tives  in  the  wilds  of  Africa ;  it  closed  by  Christian  men  and 
women  sending  and  accompanying  these  captives  back  to  Africa, 
to  plant  churches  and  schools  among  their  benighted  country 
men.  Through  the  whole,  however,  the  one  dark  and  hideous 
fact  stands  out  that  slavery  is  essentially  the  same,  its  adher 
ents  substantially  alike.  A  system  of  violence,  impatient  of 
all  restraints,  whether  of  reason  or  of  conscience,  humanity 
or  religion,  the  laws  of  the  heart  or  the  laws  of  the  State,  it 
seems  mainly  intent  on  compassing  its  own  ends,  by  whatever 
means  and  at  whatever  hazards.  It  was  the  same  in  Africa 
and  in  America  ;  in  the  barracoon  and  in  the  middle  passage  ; 
under  a  monarchy  or  in  a  republic ;  in  a  Pagan,  Catholic,  or 
Protestant  country. 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

THE  PRIGG  CASE.  —  THE  USE  OP  ITS  JAILS  FORBIDDEN  BY  MASSA 
CHUSETTS.  —  AN  AMENDMENT  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  PROPOSED. 

Various  Interpretations  of  the  Constitution.  —  Margarette  Morgan.  —  Prigg 
Case.  —  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania.  —  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States.  —  Decision.  —  State  Legislation  not  required.  —  Taney.  —  Daniel.  — 
Jurisdiction  of  the  Government.  —  Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts.  —  State 
Laws  repealed.  —  Laws  against  the  Use  of  Jails.  —  Latimer's  Arrest.  —  Trial.  — 
City  Officers.  —  Excitement.  —  Public  Meetings.  —  Meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall. 

—  Edmund  Quincy.  —  Joshua  Leavitt.  —  Disturbance.  —  Speech  of  Phillips.  — 
Remonstrances.  — Latimer  Journal.  —  Popular  Demonstrations.  — Grey  paid  by 
Mr  Colver.  —  Convention.  —  Petition  to  the  Legislature.  —  Meeting  in  Faneuil 
Hall.  —  Petition  presented  to  Congress  by  John  Quincy  Adams.  —  Proposed 
Amendment  of  the  Constitution.  —  Petition.  —  Resolutions  of  Massachusetts. 

—  Singular  Avowal  of  Mr.  Wise.  —  Mr.  Holmes.  —  Speech  of  Mr.  Adams.  — 
Report  of  Committee.  —  Massachusetts  Senators.  —  Action  of  the  Legislature. 

A  MARKED  feature  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
is  the  equivocal  language  in  which  the  provisions  concerning 
slavery  are  couched.  At  the  North,  one  class  of  Abolitionists, 
believing  that  it  contained  the  fruits  of  a  compromise  with  the 
Slave  Power,  stigmatized  it  as  a  "  covenant  with  death  and  an 
agreement  with  hell  "  ;  while  another,  pointing  to  the  omis 
sion  of  all  reference  to  the  name  of  slavery,  pronounced  it 
"  an  antislavery  document."  At  the  South,  where  there  was 
no  doubt  that  the  Constitution  recognized  and  protected  slav 
ery,  there  were  differences,  too,  of  opinion  and  of  interpreta 
tion  concerning  the  clause  referring  to  the  rendition  of  fugi 
tives  from  labor.  Even  the  members  of  the  Supreme  Court 
were  not  agreed  among  themselves.  Some  held  that  it  in 
vested  the  States  with  the  power  and  responsibility  of  return 
ing  the  fugitive,  while  others  held  that  the  duty  rested  with 
the  general  government  to  carry  into  effect  that  unfortunate 
provision. 


THE  PRIGG   CASE.  471 

In  the  year  1826  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  through 
the  zeal  and  activity  of  the  Abolition  Society  of  that  State, 
enacted  a  law  punishing  with  severe  penalties  any  person  who 
should  take  or  carry  away  from  the  State  any  negro  with  the 
intention  of  selling  him  as  a  slave,  or  of  detaining  or  causing 
to  be  detained  such  negro  as  a  slave  for  life.  The  object  of 
this  law  was  intended  primarily  to  prevent  kidnapping  or  sell 
ing  into  slavery  persons  of  color,  a  practice  which  had  been 
carried  on  to  a  large  extent.  Its  provisions,  however,  extended 
not  only  to  colored  persons  resident  within  the  State,  but  to 
fugitive  slaves  that  had  sought  refuge  within  its  borders. 

In  1832  Margarette  Morgan,  held  as  a  slave  for  life  by  the 
laws  of  Maryland,  fled  from  that  State  into  Pennsylvania. 
Edward  Prigg,  being  legally  constituted  the  attorney  for  her 
owner,  caused  her  to  be  arrested  in  1837,  and,  with  her  chil 
dren,  one  of  whom  was  born  more  than  a  year  after  she  had 
made  her  escape,  taken  out  of  the  State  and  delivered  to  her 
mistress.  For  this  act  he  was  arrested,  tried,  and  convicted 
in  the  court  of  York  County.  The  case  was  then  appealed 
to  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  judgment  of 
the  court  below  affirmed.  From  the  Supreme  Court  of  that 
State  an  appeal  was  taken  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States. 

The  case  excited  the  deepest  interest  throughout  the  coun 
try.  The  question  to  be  determined  was  whether  the  act  of 
Pennsylvania,  under  which  Prigg  had  been  convicted,  was  in 
contravention  of  the  provision  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  relating  to  persons  held  to  service  in  one  State 
escaping  into  another.  The  decision  of  the  court  was  pro 
nounced  by  Judge  Story.  That  decision  was  in  substance 
that  Congress  had  exclusive  power  to  legislate  concerning 
fugitive  slaves  ;  that  the  States  had  no  power  to  legislate  upon 
the  subject,  either  in  aid  of  or  against  the  rendition  of  fugi 
tives  ;  that  the  right  of  the  owner  to  recapture  his  slave, 
wherever  he  might  be  found,  was  given  him  by  the  Constitu 
tion,  without  restriction  or  qualification  ;  that  he  might  recap 
ture  him  wherever  he  could  find  him,  if  he  could  do  so  without 
illegal  violence  or  breach  of  the  peace  ;  that,  if  he  could  not 


472       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

do  so,  he  might  resort  to  the  means  specified  in  the  act  of 
Congress  for  the  rendition  of  fugitives ;  and  that  the  United 
States  could  not  oblige  the  States  to  enforce  its  laws  by  their 
magistrates,  but  must  depend  upon  its  own  courts  and  officers. 
Of  course,  the  act  of  Pennsylvania,  in  view  of  these  opinions, 
was  pronounced  unconstitutional  and  void.  All  the  judges, 
with  the  exception  of  Justice  McLean  and  Justice  Thompson, 
held  that  the  master  might  seize  his  slave  and  remove  him  out 
of  the  State  in  utter  disregard  of  its  laws.  Those  two  judges 
held  that  after  a  seizure  was  made  the  master  was  bound  to 
prosecute  his  claim,  according  to  the  provisions  of  the  Act  of 
1793,  before  he  could  remove  such  fugitive  from  the  State  into 
which  he  had  escaped. 

By  this  decision  the  personal  liberty  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  free  States  was  brought  into  constant  peril,  the  right  of 
trial  by  jury  was  practically  denied,  and  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  was  practically  suspended.  One  portion  of  the  decis 
ion,  however,  proved  to  be  in  the  interests  of  freedom.  It  was 
decided  that  States  could  not  legislate  in  aid  of  or  against  the 
rights  of  the  slaveholder  ;  that  Congress  had  no  power  to 
compel  State  officers  to  act  under  its  laws  ;  and  that  any 
action  of  State  officers  under  the  Act  of  1793  was  purely  vol 
untary.  By  this  decision  of  the  Court  the  States  might  pro 
hibit  their  magistrates  and  other  officers  from  any  interference 
in  cases  arising  under  the  Act  of  1793  for  the  rendition  of 
fugitives.  Chief  Justice  Taney  and  Justice  Daniel  differed 
from  the  judgment  of  the  Court  on  this  point.  The  chief  jus 
tice  thought  the  States  were  not  prohibited,  but,  on  the  con 
trary,  that  it  was  enjoined  upon  them  to  aid  and  protect  the 
owner  in  his  attempts  to  recover  his  slave  found  within  their 
territories.  He  thought,  if  the  State  authorities  were  ab 
solved  from  all  obligation  to  protect  the  owners  in  their 
attempts  to  regain  their  slaves,  that  the  Act  of  1793  scarcely 
deserved  the  name  of  a  remedy.  "  It  is  only  necessary,"  he 
said,  "  to  state  the  provision  of  this  law  in  order  to  show  how 
ineffectual  and  delusive  is  the  remedy  provided  by  Congress 
if  State  authority  is  forbidden  to  come  to  its  aid."  Jus 
tice  Daniel  said,  if  the  right  of  arrest  and  detention,  with  a 


THE   PKIGG   CASE.  473 

view  of  restoration  to  the  owner,  belonged  solely  to  the  Fed 
eral  government,  the  master  would  be  deprived  of  protection 
and  security,  and  would  be  defeated  in  his  right  of  property. 

By  this  decision  of  five  judges  out  of  nine  the  rendition  of 
fugitive  slaves  was  declared  to  be  exclusively  within  the  juris 
diction  of  the  Federal  government.  This  was  the  law  of  the 
land.  By  it  slavery  was  made  a  municipal  institution,  not 
recognized  beyond  the  State  tolerating  it,  excepting  the  clause 
in  the  Constitution  relating  to  fugitives.  The  doctrine  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts,  that  the  authority  of  a  mas 
ter  over  his  slaves  did  not  extend  to  those  taken  by  him  into 
a  State  where  slavery  is  prohibited,  but  was  strictly  limited  to 
the  case  of  fugitives  who  had  escaped  against  his  will,  was  in 
cidentally  affirmed.  To  his  family  and  intimate  personal 
friends  Judge  Story  pronounced  this  decision  of  the  court  as 
"  a  triumph  of  freedom."  Though  this  decision  of  the  Su 
preme  Court  seemed  and  was  evidently  designed  to  be  strongly 
favorable  to  the  slaveholders,  it  became,  by  legitimate  infer 
ence  and  by  its  practical  workings,  often  a  real  means  of  pro 
tection  and  defence.  Several  of  the  States  had  enacted  laws 
in  aid  of  the  rendition  of  fugitive  slaves,  which  had  afforded 
effective  assistance  for  that  purpose.  But  after  this  decision  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  these  laws  in  several  of  the  States  were 
repealed,  and  in  some  States  statutes  were  enacted  forbid 
ding  either  such  co-operation  by  State  officials  or  the  use  of 
jails  ;  so  that,  from  the  time  of  this  decision  to  the  enact 
ment  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  1850,  it  had  been  found 
much  more  difficult  to  secure  the  recapture  and  return  of 
the  increasing  number  of  fugitives  fleeing  from  their  mas 
ters. 

In  May,  1837,  a  slave  was  found  secreted  on  board  the  ship 
"  Boston,"  of  Maine,  homeward  bound  from  Georgia ;  who, 
after  landing,  escaped  to  Canada.  The  captain  was  charged 
with  slave-stealing,  and  the  governor  of  Georgia  demanded  him 
as  a  fugitive  from  justice.  But  the  governor  of  Maine  refused 
to  comply  with  the  requisition,  as  the  laws  of  that  State  con 
sidered  slaves  persons  rather  than  property.  In  consequence 
of  this  refusal  to  surrender  the  captain  of  the  vessel,  the  legis- 

60 


474       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN   AMERICA. 

lature  of  Georgia  adopted  resolutions  calling  upon  Congress  to 
amend  the  laws  concerning  fugitives  from  justice,  so  as  to  com 
pel  governors  of  States  to  deliver  up  persons  charged  with 
slave-stealing.  These  resolutions  were  presented  to  the  Sen 
ate  of  the  United  States,  warmly  advocated  by  the  Georgia 
senators,  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary ;  but 
no  action  was  taken. 

Soon  afterward  a  similar  case  occurred  between  Virginia  and 
New  York,  which  excited  still  deeper  interest,  as  it  became  the 
subject  of  a  protracted  controversy  between  the  two  States.  A 
negro  named  Isaac,  claimed  to  be  the  slave  of  John  G.  Colby 
of  Norfolk,  was  found  in  July,  1839,  secreted  on  board  the 
schooner  "  Robert  Carter  "  of  New  York.  On  her  arrival  at 
the  port  of  New  York  she  was  boarded,  and  Isaac  was  seized 
and  taken  to  Virginia  without  any  legal  examination,  and  in 
defiance  of  the  laws  of  the  State  against  kidnapping.  A  de 
mand  was  made  by  the  executive  of  Virginia  upon  the  gov 
ernor  of  New  York  for  the  surrender  of  Peter  Johnson,  Ed 
ward  Smith,  and  Isaac  Gansey,  colored  men,  accused  of  aiding 
and  abetting  Isaac's  escape,  or  of  slave-stealing.  Governor 
Seward  refused  to  surrender  these  men,  because  no  State  could 
demand  the  surrender  of  a  fugitive  from  justice  for  an  act 
which  was  made  criminal  only  by  its  own  legislation,  —  an  act, 
too,  which  was  not  only  innocent  in  itself,  but  humane  and 
praiseworthy. 

In  1840  the  legislature  of  New  York  passed  an  act  to  extend 
the  right  of  trial  by  jury.  It  applied  especially  to  persons 
claimed  as  fugitive  slaves.  The  refusal  of  the  governor  to  sur 
render  these  persons,  and  this  legislation,  provoked  retalia 
tory  legislation  on  the  part  of  Virginia.  The  legislature  of 
that  State  passed  an  act  to  prevent  the  citizens  of  New  York 
from  carrying  slaves  out  of  that  Commonwealth,  requiring  that 
all  vessels  of  that  State  should  be  inspected  before  leaving  any 
of  its  ports.  It  also  authorized  the  governor  of  Virginia  to  sus 
pend  the  act,  whenever  the  governor  of  New  York  should  comply 
with  the  requisition  of  Virginia  for  the  surrender  of  the  alleged 
fugitives  from  justice,  and  should  repeal  the  act  to  extend  the 
right  of  trial  by  jury  should  be  repealed. 


THE   VIRGINIA  AND   NEW   YORK   CONTROVERSY.  475 

This  Virginia  controversy  caused  much  feeling  in  the  coun 
try,  led  to  a  long  correspondence,  and  challenged  the  attention 
of  jurists  and  statesmen  on  account  of  the  important  questions 
it  involved.  Governor  Seward  was  sharply  criticised  and 
severely  censured  by  many ;  but  he  firmly  maintained  his 
position,  and  vindicated  with  signal  ability  the  opinions  he  ad 
vanced.  The  Democrats,  securing  majorities  in  both  houses  of 
the  legislature,  in  1842,  were  prompt  to  condemn  the  governor 
and  espouse  the  cause  of  Virginia.  They  passed  a  resolution 
setting  forth  the  governor's  refusal  to  surrender  persons 
charged  with  stealing  a  slave  in  Virginia  with  the  reasons 
assigned  ;  but  affirming  that,  in  their  opinion,  "  the  stealing 
of  a  slave  within  the  jurisdiction  of  Virginia  was  a  crime  with 
in  the  meaning  of  the  Constitution." 

These  Democratic  legislators  requested  the  governor  to  trans 
mit  these  resolutions  to  the  executive  of  Virginia.  Governor 
Seward  declined  to  comply  with  the  request.  He  assigned  as 
his  reason  that  he  could  not  do  so  without  either  silently  ac 
quiescing  in  its  doctrine  or  accompanying  it  with  his  protest ; 
that  the  former  would  be  a  palpable  dereliction  of  constitu 
tional  duty,  and  the  latter  would  not  tend  to  enhance  the  credit 
of  the  State.  He  assured  the  legislature  that  he  remained  of 
"  the  opinion  that  beings  possessed  of  the  physical,  moral,  and 
intellectual  faculties  common  to  the  human  race,  cannot,  by 
the  force  of  any  constitution  or  laws,  be  goods  or  chattels,  or  a 
thing  ;  and  that  nothing  but  goods,  chattels,  and  things  can  be 
the  subject  of  larceny,  stealing,  or  theft."  He  also  affirmed 
that  the  cherished  principles  of  civil  liberty  forbade  him  to 
recognize  such  a  "  natural  inequality  among  men  as  the  reso 
lution  of  the  legislature  seems  to  me  to  assume,  and  from  con 
tributing  in  any  way  to  perpetuate  the  inequalities  of  political 
condition,  from  which  results  a  large  portion  of  the  evils  of 
human  life." 

In  1842  a  case  occurred  in  Ohio  which  gained  extensive  no 
toriety,  not  only  from  the  rulings  and  decisions  it  called  forth, 
but  from  the  length  of  time  it  was  in  the  courts,  and  the  emi 
nent  legal  and  forensic  ability  enlisted  in  its  prosecution.  Mr. 
Van  Zandt,  a  worthy  Christian  farmer  of  Hamilton  County, 


476       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

returning  from  the  Cincinnati  market,  took  into  his  wagon  nine 
escaping  Kentucky  slaves.  About  sixteen  miles  from  the  city 
he  was  stopped,  in  broad  daylight,  by  persons  in  pursuit  of  the 
fugitives.  Seven  of  the  nine  were  taken  —  two  escaping  — 
without  legal  process  back  to  Kentucky  and  lodged  in  the  jail 
at  Covington.  The  kidnappers  were  indicted  by  the  grand 
jury  of  that  county,  defended  by  John  B.  Weller,  late  mem 
ber  of  Congress,  and  Governor  Corwin,  and  acquitted. 

Mr.  Van  Zandt  did  not  so  escape.  He  was  indicted,  tried 
before  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States,  Justice  McLean 
presiding,  and  defended  by  Thomas  Morris  and  Salmon  P. 
Chase.  Mr.  Morris  in  his  opening  plea  boldly  advanced  and 
ably  defended  the  fundamental  principles  of  human  rights 
and  the  paramount  claims  of  justice,  equity,  and  human 
ity.  Mr.  Chase  closed  with  an  argument  of  three  hours' 
length.  Of  it  Dr.  Bailey,  editor  of  the  "  Philanthropist/' 
said  :  "  Whether  viewed  as  a  legal  argument  or  a  specimen  of 
forensic  eloquence,  it  has  seldom  been  equalled.  He  closed 
with  one  of  the  finest  efforts  of  oratory  we  ever  heard.  The 
blind  Samson  of  Longfellow  was  brought  upon  the  stage  ;  and 
when  we  say  that  so  far  from  impairing  this  noble  allusion,  as 
used  by  the  poet,  he  really  added  to  its  magnificence  and  power, 
we  say  but  the  truth.  Not  a  foot-fall  was  heard,  not  a  move 
ment  made.  Every  form  was  a  breathing  statue,  —  every  eye 
was  fixed  upon  the  blind  Samson,  standing  between  the  massive 
pillars,  while  the  jeering  multitude  scoffed  at  his  rights,  mocked 
his  apparent  helplessness,  sported  themselves  with  his  bonds, 
till,  bowing  himself  in  the  greatness  of  his  strength,  in  a  mo 
ment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  the  temple  was  in  rums  and 
the  multitude  buried  beneath  them." 

Mr.  Southgate  of  Kentucky  closed  in  behalf  of  the  prosecu 
tion.  Justice  McLean  charged  the  jury  in  accordance  with 
the  principles  enunciated  in  the  Prigg  case,  and  the  jury 
brought  in  a  verdict  of  guilty  ;  and  the  good  man,  whose  crime 
was  that  of  giving  a  few  weary,  foot-sore  strangers  a  ride  of  a 
few  miles,  was  mulcted  in  a  fine  of  twelve  hundred  dollars, 
while  the  desperadoes  who  seized  them  without  forms  of  law 
and  against  every  claim  of  right  and  humanity  received  for 


THE  LATIMER   CASE.  477 

their  base  and  brutal  conduct  a  large  reward.  How  could  a 
nation,  not  only  permitting  but  clothing  with  the  sanction  of 
its  laws  such  cruel  perversions  of  justice,  hope  to  escape  the 
retribution  due  to  such  crimes  ?  The  case  was  taken  on  ap 
peal  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and  argued, 
in  1846,  by  Mr.  Seward  and  Mr.  Chase.  Justice  Woodbury 
delivered  the  opinion  of  the  court,  in  which  the  constitutional 
ity  of  the  law  of  1793  was  maintained,  and  the  exceptions 
taken  by  the  counsel  of  Van  Zandt  were  overruled. 

The  decision  in  the  Prigg  case  was  also  brought  to  a  practi 
cal  test  in  Massachusetts  in  October,  1842.  George  Latimer, 
a  native  of  Virginia,  was  seized  in  the  city  of  Boston,  without 
warrant,  at  the  request  of  James  B.  Grey  of  Norfolk,  of  that 
State,  who  claimed  him  as  his  slave.  A  writ  of  habeas  corpus 
was  at  once  sued  out  in  his  favor  by  his  counsel,  Samuel  E. 
Sewall  and  Amos  B.  Merrill.  After  argument  Chief  Justice 
Shaw  decided  that  the  statute  of  the  United  States  authorized 
the  owner  of  the  fugitive  to  arrest  him  in  any  State  to  which 
he  might  have  fled,  and,  upon  proving  his  claim  before  a  court 
established  by  the  United  States,  to  carry  him  beyond  the  juris 
diction  of  the  State.  The  court  decided,  too,  that  the  claimant 
should  have  a  reasonable  time  to  obtain  his  proof,  and  the  writ 
was  denied. 

Elbridge  Gerry  Austin,  attorney  for  the  city  of  Boston,  then 
applied  in  behalf  of  the  claimant,  Grey,  to  Justice  Story  for  a 
certificate  that  Latimer  was  his  slave';  and  also  for  time  to 
procure  evidence  from  Norfolk.  This  motion  was  strenuously 
resisted  ;  but  the  judge  ruled  that  it  had  always  been  the  cus 
tom  to  grant  the  time,  and  a  written  order  was  given  that  Lati 
mer  should  remain  in  the  custody  of  Grey  until  the  time  of 
trial.  The  city  attorney  readily  acted  for  the  claimant,  and 
Nathaniel  Coolidge,  city  jailer,  consented  to  be  Grey's  agent 
and  slave-keeper.  A  writ  of  personal  replevin,  provided  for 
in  the  Act  of  1837,  securing  trial  by  jury  to  persons  charged 
with  being  slaves,  was  sued  out  before  Chief  Justice  Shaw. 
The  case  was  ably  argued  by  Charles  M.  Ellis  and  Samuel  E. 
Sewall ;  but  the  chief  justice  declared  that  by  the  decision  of 
the  Supreme  Court  in  the  case  of  Prigg  the  remedy  sought  for 


478       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

was  illegal,  and  Latimer  was  left  in  the  custody  of  the  claim 
ant  in  Boston  jail. 

Great  excitement  pervaded  the  city  and  State.  Public  meet 
ings  were  held  in  several  cities  and  towns.  A  meeting  was 
held  on  Sabbath  evening,  30th  of  October,  in  Faneuil  Hall. 
At  an  early  hour  the  hall  was  thronged  by  an  immense  multi 
tude.  It  was  estimated  that  there  were  four  thousand  persons 
present,  most  of  whom  came  for  the  purpose  of  expressing 
their  condemnation  of  the  arrest  of  Latimer,  and  of  the  pro 
ceedings  growing  out  of  that  arrest.  The  speakers  were  con 
tinually  interrupted  by  an  organized  band  of  ruffians,  who 
strove  by  hideous  noises  to  break  up  the  meeting,  in  which  they 
were  partially  successful.  Samuel  E.  Sewell  presided,  and  a 
series  of  resolutions  were  presented  by  Joshua  Leavitt,  pro 
testing  "  by  all  the  glorious  memories  of  the  Revolutionary 
struggle,  in  the  names  of  justice,  liberty,  and  right,  in  the 
awful  name  of  God,  against  the  deliverance  of  George  Latimer 
into  the  hands  of  his  pursuers." 

These  resolutions  were  seconded  by  Edmund  Quincy.  Lati 
mer,  he  said,  had  not  sought  his  deliverance  from  a  system,  the 
vilest  beneath  the  sun,  by  an  appeal  to  arms,  as  did  the  men 
who  thronged  that  hall  in  early  times  to  create  the  Revolution  ; 
but  he  had  resorted  to  the  simplest  natural  right,  the  right  to 
escape.  "  He  turns,"  he  said,  "  his  face  to  the  North  Star, 
which  he  had  been  falsely  told  hung  over  a  land  of  liberty. 
He  threads  the  forest,  he  hurries  by  night  across  the  green 
swamps,  he  lies  concealed  by  day  in  the  tangled  cane-brake,  he 
dares  the  treacherous  morass,  he  fords  rivers,  he  scales  moun 
tains  ;  but  he  shuns  the  face  of  Christian  man  as  his  deadliest 
foe  !  At  last  he  reaches  the  Free  States ;  but  he  rests  not  from 
his  pilgrimage  until  he  has  taken  sanctuary  in  the  very  birth 
place  of  liberty.  Here  he  places  his  feet  on  our  hearthstone, 
and  demands  hospitality  and  protection.  And  with  what  re 
ception  met  this  demand  upon  the  humanity,  the  Christianity, 
the  love  of  liberty  of  Boston  ?  The  signal  for  the  chase  is  given  ; 
the  immortal  game  is  on  foot ;  a  pack  of  bloodhounds  in  human 
shape  is  put  upon  the  scent ;  they  pursue,  seize,  and  hold  him 
down,  with  the  oppressor  himself  for  the  master  of  the  hunt, 


THE   LATTMER   CASE.  479 

and  the  second  judicial  magistrate  in  the  nation  for  the  whip- 
per  in  !  Your  police  officers  and  jailers,  under  the  compulsion 
of  no  law,  are  the  voluntary  partakers  of  this  hideous  case  ; 
and  your  streets  and  your  prisons  form  the  hunting-ground  on 
which  the  quarry  is  run  down  and  secured." 

Joshua  Leavitt  read  letters  from  John  Quincy  Adams, 
George  Bancroft,  Samuel  Hoar,  William  B.  Calhoun,  and 
other  distinguished  persons,  amid  continued  interruptions. 
Charles  Lenox  Remond  and  Frederick  Douglass  sought  to 
address  the  meeting ;  but  the  uproar  was  so  great  that  they 
could  not  be  heard.  Appeals  were  made  by  George  S.  Hillard 
in  behalf  of  free  speech,  but  they  were  unheeded.  Wendell 
Phillips  then,  amid  hisses  and  shouts  and  continued  uproar, 
addressed  the  noisy  assemblage.  He  characterized,  with  his 
terrible  severity  and  point,  their  domineering  conduct  toward 
the  slave  and  his  friends,  and  their  craven  subserviency  to  the 
master  and  his  minions.  He  branded  them  as  cowards,  that 
shook  the  chains  that  bound  them  to  the  car  of  slavery,  but 
dared  not  break  them.  "  When  I  look,"  he  said,  "  upon  these 
crowded  thousands,  and  see  them  trample  on  their  conscien 
ces  and  the  rights  of  their  fellow-men  at  the  bidding  of  a  piece 
of  parchment,  I  say,  '  My  curse  be  upon  the  Constitution  of 
these  United  States !  '  " 

This  conduct  of  the  mob  excited  general  indignation,  and 
strengthened  the  remonstrances  of  the  city  and  State  against 
the  disgraceful  proceedings.  A  newspaper,  conducted  by 
Dr  Henry  I.  Bowditch  and  William  F.  Channing,  called  the 
"  Latimer  Journal  and  North  Star,"  scattered  facts  and  argu 
ments  among  the  people,  and  intensified  the  excitement  of  the 
public  mind. 

The  alacrity  evinced  in  this  case  by  the  city  attorney,  the 
police  officers,  the  jailer,  and  sheriff  excited  the  deepest  indig 
nation.  A  petition  signed  by  citizens  of  character  and  in 
fluence  was  presented  to  the  sheriff,  demanding  the  dismission 
of  the  jailer.  Another  petition  was  prepared,  requesting 
Governor  Davis  to  dismiss  the  sheriff  unless  he  removed  the 
jailer.  This  unexpected  popular  demonstration  brought  the 
officials  and  claimant  to  terms.  Grey  and  his  advisers  evinced 


480        EISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE  SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

their  readiness  to  release  Latimer  for  a  consideration  ;  but  the 
persons  who  had  taken  an  active  part  in  the  case,  believing, 
as  matters  then  stood,  that  his  release  would  be  effected,  re 
fused  to  pay  anything  at  all.  But  the  Rev.  Nathaniel  Colver, 
apprehensive  that  Latimer  might  be  smuggled  out  of  the  State, 
agreed  to  pay  the  sum  of  four  hundred  dollars,  on  the  delivery 
of  free  papers  and  the  surrender  of  the  power  of  attorney  to 
reclaim  his  wife.  The  offer  was  accepted,  and  Latimer  stepped 
forth  from  Leverett  Street  jail,  amid  the  general  rejoicings,  a 
freeman. 

While  these  events  were  transpiring  in  Massachusetts  the 
press  of  Virginia  teemed  with  denunciations.  Inflammatory 
appeals  were  made  to  the  people  of  the  South.  Public  meet 
ings  were  held,  and  a  demand  for  redress  or  retaliation  was 
made  upon  the  legislature.  The  governor  made  a  requisition 
for  Latimer  as  a  fugitive  from  justice  ;  but  Governor  Davis 
refused  to  comply  with  it. 

The  matter,  however,  did  not  end  here.  A  convention  was 
held,  and  a  form  of  petition  to  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts 
was  adopted,  praying  that  body  to  forbid  all  persons  holding 
office  under  the  laws  of  the  State  from  aiding  in  the  arrest  or  de 
tention  of  persons  claimed  as  fugitives  from  slavery ;  to  forbid 
the  use  of  jails  or  other  public  property  for  their  detention ; 
and  to  propose  amendments  to  the  Federal  Constitution  that 
should  forever  separate  the  people  of  that  State  from  all  connec 
tion  with  slavery.  Another  petition  was  prepared  for  Congress, 
praying  for  such  laws  and  such  proposed  amendments  to  the 
Constitution  as  would  relieve  the  Commonwealth  from  all  fur 
ther  participation  in  this  crime  of  oppression.  By  the  faithful 
and  well-directed  labors,  through  conventions,  meetings,  and 
other  agencies,  of  Henry  I.  Bowditch,  William  F.  Channing, 
and  Frederick  S.  Cabot,  the  committee  chosen  for  that  pur 
pose,  more  than  sixty-five  thousand  signatures  were  obtained 
to  a  petition  to  the  legislature,  and  fifty  thousand  to  a  petition 
to  Congress.  At  a  meeting  held  in  Faneuil  Hall,  over  which 
John  Pierpont  presided,  John  Quincy  Adams  was  unani 
mously  selected  to  take  charge  of  the  petition  to  Congress,  and 
Charles  Francis  Adams  to  present  the  petition  to  the  legisla- 


THE   LATIMER   CASE.  481 

ture.  The  latter  petition  was  presented  to  the  House  by  Mr. 
Adams  ;  then  taken  to  the  Senate,  where  it  was  presented  and 
referred  to  the  appropriate  committee. 

Mr.  Adams,  from  the  joint  committee  to  whom  the  Latimer 
petition  was  referred,  made  a  learned  and  elaborate  report,  in 
which  he  showed  how  "  the  spirit  of  slavery,  flying  from  one 
paragraph  of  the  Constitution  to  another,  seeks  to  wrest  out 
of  each  in  turn  the  necessary  strength  to  maintain  itself. " 
He  contended  that  the  great  object  with  Massachusetts  was 
to  free  herself  from  all  responsibility,  direct  or  indirect,  for 
the  continuance  and  spread  of  slavery  in  the  United  States  ; 
and  that  while  there  were  several  passages  in  the  Constitution 
connecting  the  free  States  with  slavery,  the  slave  representa 
tion  was  effecting  "  by  slow  but  sure  degrees  the  overthrow 
of  all  the  old  but  noble  principles  that  were  embodied  in  the 
Federal  Constitution.  To  that,"  he  said,  "let  the  public 
attention  be  exclusively  directed.  If,  in  the  process  neces 
sary  to  the  procuring  the  removal  of  it  from  the  instrument 
of  government,  it  should  become  advisable  to  consider  the 
points  of  minor  consequence,  this  may  be  done  then  as  easily 
as  now,  and  with  more  effect.  The  withdrawal  from  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  slave  representation  would  alone,  in  the  opin 
ion  of  your  committee,  be  of  force  enough  to  carry  with  it  the 
remaining  obstacles  to  that  complete  and  effective  separation 
from  all  connection  with  slavery  which  the  petitioners  desire." 
The  committee  reported  a  proposed  amendment  to  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States,  restricting  representation  to 
"  free  persons"  alone.  They  also  reported  a  bill  to  the  legisla 
ture  requiring  all  State  officials  to  refrain  from  rendering  aid 
in  the  recapture  of  fugitive  slaves,  and  also  forbidding  the  use 
of  its  jails  for  their  confinement.  The  resolution  was  adopted 
and  the  bill  was  passed. 

The  petition  to  Congress,  headed  by  George  Latimer  and 
signed  by  fifty  thousand  of  the  citizens  of  Massachusetts,  was 
placed  upon  the  desk  of  Mr.  Adams.  It  produced  a  great 
sensation.  Several  Southern  representatives  manifested  deep 
indignation.  Even  Mr.  Botts,  who  had  opposed  the  gag  rule, 
declared  that  it  was  "  a  hornet's  nest,  full  of  fifty  thousand 

61 


482       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN   AMERICA. 

young  hornets."  He  was  willing  to  receive  the  petition  of  the 
poorest  and  humblest  citizen  ;  but  he  asserted  that  George 
Latimer  was  "  not  a  citizen  of  the  United  States." 

It  is  stated,  on  the  authority  of  David  Lee  Child,  that  to  a 
Virginian,  who  came  to  Mr.  Adams's  seat  and  asked  who 
George  Latimer  was,  he  replied  :  "  He  is  the  son  of  a  very  re 
spectable  gentleman  of  Norfolk,  in  Virginia,  a  member  of  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  and  respectable  families  in  that  State, 
and  a  citizen  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts."  Mr. 
Adams  moved  to  suspend  the  rules  relating  to  petitions,  and 
at  the  end  of  the  third  day  he  obtained  a  vote  upon  his  mo 
tion,  for  which  there  were  eighty  to  one  hundred  and  six,  every 
Northern  Whig  voting  for  a  suspension  of  the  rules,  and  thirty- 
five  Northern  Democrats  voting  against  it.  Failing  to  obtain 
a  suspension  of  the  rules,  Mr.  Adams  placed  the  petition  in  the 
hands  of  the  Clerk  of  the  House  under  the  standing  rule. 

The  resolution  of  Massachusetts,  proposing  an  amendment 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  so  as  to  base  repre 
sentation  upon  "  free  persons,"  was  presented  to  the  House  by 
Mr.  Adams,  on  the  21st  of  December,  1843.  He  moved  its 
reference  to  a  select  committee  of  nine  members.  Mr.  Wise 
immediately  arose,  and,  with  great  warmth  of  manner,  said 
he  would  now  strike  his  flag.  From  that  day  forth  he  would 
oppose  nothing,  and  leave  it  to  the  gentleman  from  Massa 
chusetts  and  others  to  take  the  responsibility.  Lifting  his 
hands,  amid  great  sensation  among  the  members,  who  crowded 
around  him,  he  exclaimed  :  "  I  say  solemnly  before  God,  as  a 
Southern  man,  that  we  are  worsted  in  this  fight.  From  this 
day  forth  and  forever  I  withdraw  from  the  fight.  I  say  to  my 
constituents  that,  the  way  this  battle  has  been  fought,  there  is 
no  hope  for  your  rights.  Your  interests  are  doomed  to  be 
destroyed."  He  declared,  in  the  name  of  God  and  of  his 
country,  that  he  left  the  awful  responsibility  upon  the  North 
to  infringe  the  Constitution.  He  solemnly  pledged  himself, 
however,  to  renew  the  battle,  —  not  on  that  floor,  but  before 
his  constituents  and  the  people  of  the  country. 

Mr.  Holmes  of  South  Carolina  said  the  gentleman  from  Vir 
ginia  might  retire  from  the  contest ;  but  he  would  renew  the 


PROPOSED   AMENDMENT   OF   THE   CONSTITUTION.  483 

battle,  day  after  day,  so  long  as  the  waves  were  rolling  from  the 
North  and  threatening  to  overwhelm  them.  But,  instead  of 
relinquishing  the  struggle  on  that  floor,  he  would  sound  the 
tocsin,  and  give  battle  at  once  with  the  gentleman  from  Mas 
sachusetts,  and  those  who  were  with  him  engaged  in  fierce 
hostility  against  their  countrymen,  and  who  were  then  striving 
to  take  from  them  their  rights  of  representation. 

Amid  the  excitement  Mr.  Adams  remained  calm.  He  re 
minded  members  that  these  were  the  resolutions  of  the  Demo 
cratic  legislature  of  Massachusetts,  for  in  both  branches  the 
Democrats  were  in  the  majority.  He  expressed  his  regret  that 
the  gentlemen  from  Virginia  and  South  Carolina,  one  of  whom 
renounced  the  uwar"  and  the  other  renewed  it,  should  in 
dulge  in  such  martial  and  belligerent  figures  of  speech.  That 
hall,  he  said,  was  no  fit  place  for  battle  of  any  kind.  It  was  a 
place  for  deliberation ;  it  was  a  place  for  the  deliberation 
of  friends  met  to  consult  upon  themes  of  common  interest. 
He  said  that  Wise  had  never  done  a  "  wiser  "  thing  than  to 
abandon  a  position  no  longer  tenable  ;  and  he  advised  Holmes 
to  strip  off  the  glittering  armor  in  which  he  had  clad  himself, 
take  off  his  epaulets  and  throw  away  his  sword,  and  follow  the 
example  of  Wise,  and  retire  from  a  position  which,  "  thank 
God  Almighty,"  was  no  longer  tenable.  He  said  he  was  not, 
and  never  had  been,  an  Abolitionist  in  the  sense  of  any  aboli 
tion  society  he  was  acquainted  with  ;  but  he  believed,  with  Jef 
ferson,  that  the  God  of  nature  had  decreed  the  freedom  of  the 
slaves,  and  the  sooner  it  came  the  better.  In  the  sense  that 
Thomas  Jefferson  was  an  Abolitionist  he  was  one.  He  hoped 
the  day  would  come  when  slavery  would  be  a  word  without  a 
meaning  in  the  English  language,  when  there  should  not  be 
found  a  slave  on  all  the  earth.  That,  he  thought,  would  be  the 
consummation  of  the  Christian  religion ;  the  fulfilment  of  the 
glorious  promises  and  prophecies  of  the  Old  Testament,  con 
firmed  by  the  gospel  of  the  New.  He  said  he  had  little  com 
panionship  with  antislavery  associations.  He  held  his  opin 
ions  from  God  and  from  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
which  was  permitted  to  hang  in  that  hall,  "  however  any  por 
tion  of  it  may  in  practice  have  been  turned  out  of  doors."  He 


484       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWEE   IN  AMERICA. 

closed  by  expressing  his  devotion  to  the  Union  and  to  the  Con 
stitution,  and  with  the  emphatic  denial  of  the  power  of  the  House 
to  refuse  to  receive  a  petition  for  the  amendment  of  any  of  its 
parts. 

The  resolutions  were  then  referred  to  a  select  committee  of 
which  Mr.  Adams  was  made  chairman.  There  were  six  reports. 
The  report. signed  by  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Giddings,  and  writ 
ten  by  Mr.  Adams,  was  a  terrible  arraignment  of  the  support 
ers  of  slavery,  especially  for  their  denial  of  the  right  of  peti 
tion.  It  asserted  that  slavery  was  opposed  to  the  teachings  of 
the  gospel ;  that  the  Declaration  of  Independence  embodied  the 
essential  doctrines  of  Christianity  ;  and  that  it  constituted  a 
sacred  pledge,  in  the  name  of  God,  to  abolish  slavery  as  soon 
as  practicable,  and  to  substitute  freedom  in  its  stead.  It  vin 
dicated  the  action  of  Massachusetts,  in  proposing  the  amend 
ment  for  the  purification  of  the  common  Constitution  from  that 
unnatural  and  inconsistent  element  of  a  slave  representation  in 
the  government  of  a  free  people.  The  report  proposed  to  refer 
the  question  to  the  next  session  of  Congress.  While  a  major 
ity  of  the  committee  could  not  concur  in  signing  either  of  the 
several  reports  prepared,  they  did  agree  in  the  opinion  that  the 
amendment  proposed  by  Massachusetts  should  not  be  recom 
mended  ;  and  the  House  adopted  a  resolution  to  that  effect, 
with  only  thirteen  dissenting  votes. 

When  the  resolutions  were  presented  to  the  Senate  by  Mr. 
Bates,  they  were  denounced  in  vituperative  and  violent  lan 
guage.  Mr.  King  of  Alabama  characterized  them  as  seditious, 
incendiary,  and  revolutionary,  deserving  the  condemnation  and 
execration  of  every  well-wisher  of  the  government.  To  this 
assault  upon  Massachusetts  and  her  people,  and  to  these  mis 
representations  of  the  proposed  amendment,  no  reply  was 
made.  Mr.  Bates,  avowing  that  he  had  no  desire  to  excite 
discussion,  asked  that  the  resolutions  be  laid  on  the  table  and 
printed.  But  this  modest  request  was  denied  by  the  chival- 
ric  defenders  of  State  sovereignty ;  and  the  Senate  refused 
to  print  them  by  a  vote  of  more  than  two  to  one.  To  add  to 
this  indignity,  the  resolutions  of  Georgia  replying  to  those  of 
Massachusetts  had  been  received  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 


PROPOSED  AMENDMENT   OF  THE  CONSTITUTION.  485 

Mr.  Bates,  though  reminding  the  Senate  that  Georgia  had 
received  a  courtesy  which  had  been  denied  to  Massachusetts, 
did  not  renew  the  motion  to  print,  nor  was  there  any  South 
ern  senator  sufficiently  magnanimous  to  do  it.  Instead  of 
feeling  any  humiliation  at  such  discourtesy,  the  slaveholding 
members  rather  gloried  in  the  deed  as  an  evidence  of  their 
power,  and  of  the  helplessness  of  those  they  held  in  a  vassal 
age  hardly  less  degrading  than  that  of  their  slaves.  As  Force 
was  the  only  divinity  they  worshipped,  or  whose  claims  they 
heeded,  the  voices  of  justice,  courtesy,  and  magnanimity  fell 
but  lightly  upon  their  ears. 

This  indignity  put  upon  Massachusetts  was,  however,  keenly 
felt  by  her  people.  Nor  were  they  satisfied  with  the  action  of 
their  senators.  They  thought  that  Mr.  Bates  and  Mr.  Choate 
should  have  repelled  the  aspersions  cast  upon  their  State,  de 
nounced  the  discourtesy  of  the  Senate,  and  vindicated  the 
action  of  the  legislature.  That  feeling  soon  found  utterance 
in  the  legislature  itself. 

When  the  resolutions  against  the  annexation  of  Texas  were 
pending  in  the  Senate,  Henry  Wilson  of  Middlesex  moved 
an  amendment  requesting  Massachusetts  senators  in  Con 
gress  to  prevent,  if  possible,  the  consummation  of  that  slave- 
holding  scheme.  The  resolution  implied  a  rebuke  for  their 
timid  action,  and  Mr.  Wilson  commented  freely  on  what  he 
characterized  as  their  want  of  spirit.  He  wished  to  call  their 
attention  to  the  fact  that  upon  the  question  of  slavery  the 
legislature  was  in  sober  earnest ;  that  it  wished  "  them  to  feel, 
to  think,  and  to  act  as  Massachusetts  men,  who  have  been 
reared  under  the  institutions  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  should 
think,  feel,  and  act." 

Mr.  Wilson's  amendment  was  unanimously  adopted.  The 
resolution,  however,  was  amended  in  the  House  by  the  inser 
tion  of  the  words  "  Representatives  in  Congress,"  which,  of 
course,  destroyed  its  significance  and  thwarted  its  purpose. 
But  the  Senate  refused  to  concur  in  the  amendment,  and  firmly 
adhered  to  the  original  resolution.  Charles  Francis  Adams 
spoke  strongly  against  receding.  The  people,  he  said,  were 
dissatisfied  with  the  action  of  their  senators,  and  it  was  due 


486        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

to  them  that  they  should  know  what  the  people  expected  of 
them.  The  resolution  said  to  them  that  Massachusetts  would 
forgive  the  past  if  they  would  make  great  exertions  for  the 
future.  There  was  a  sharp  debate  in  the  House  upon  the 
question  of  receding  from  its  amendment.  Mr.  Boutwell,  then 
the  leader  of  the  Democratic  party,  spoke  in  favor  of  reced 
ing  ;  and  Mr.  Richardson,  a  young  Democratic  member  from 
Woburn,  advocated  the  same  policy.  "  Our  Representatives  in 
Congress,"  he  said,  "  have  behaved  themselves  like  men.  They 
have  stood  like  rocks,  like  beacons  in  the  wide  waste ;  but  our 
Senators  did  not  dare  to  rise  when  the  fame,  honor,  and  integ 
rity  of  Massachusetts  were  attacked."  The  House,  however, 
refused,  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  fifteen  to  one  hundred 
and  twenty-eight,  to  recede  from  its  amendment.  A  commit 
tee  of  conference  was  appointed,  and  it  was  agreed  to  strike 
out  of  the  resolutions  that  which  referred  to  the  senators. 
Mr.  Saltonstall,  chairman  of  the  committee  of  conference,  on 
the  part  of  the  House,  and  who,  perhaps,  had  done  more  than 
any  one  to  prevent  the  passage  of  the  resolution  in  that  body, 
assured  the  senatorial  members  of  the  committee  that  the 
object  for  which  the  resolution  had  been  introduced  had  been 
already  attained,  and  that  both  of  the  senators  felt  very  keenly 
the  criticisms  which  had  been  made  in  the  legislature  upon 
their  course. 

Virginia  went  farther  than  any  of  her  sister  States  in  the 
condemnation  of  the  proposition  of  Massachusetts  to  amend 
the  Constitution.  Her  legislature  not  only  denounced  the 
proposition,  but  requested  the  governor  to  return  to  the  ex 
ecutive  of  Massachusetts  the  resolutions  that  had  been  trans 
mitted  to  him.  This  act  of  discourtesy  not  only  showed  how 
deeply  the  proposed  amendment  incensed  the  Slave  Power,  but 
also  a  lack  of  good  breeding  and  comity  of  manners,  to  which 
qualities  the  slave-masters  ever  laid  large  claim,  but  of  which 
this  and  similar  acts  revealed  them  to  be  sadly  destitute.  The 
governor  complied  with  the  request.  The  action  of  Virginia 
was  transmitted  by  Governor  Briggs  to  the  legislature,  and 
referred  to  a  special  committee.  Linus  Child,  its  chairman, 
reported  that  the  action  of  Virginia  was  without  precedent ; 


PROPOSED   AMENDMENT   OF   THE  CONSTITUTION.  487 

in  derogation  of  the  rights  of  the  States ;  and  in  violation  of 
the  courtesies  which  should  characterize  the  proceedings  of 
sister  States.  The  doctrines  embodied  in  the  original  resolu 
tions  were  restated  and  reaffirmed,  and  this  report  was  unani 
mously  adopted  in  both  houses.  To  aggravate  the  discourtesy 
shown  to  Massachusetts,  while  it  reveals  and  illustrates  the 
constant  humiliations  imposed  upon  the  free  States  by  the  in 
solent  power  that  ruled,  the  resolutions  of  Virginia,  in  which 
a  deliberate  insult  had  been  offered  to  a  sister  State,  were  pre 
sented  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  were  courte 
ously  received  by  that  body,  which  had,  with  studied  disrespect, 
refused  to  print  the  original  resolution  to  which  these  were 
the  response. 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

INTERMARRIAGE  LAW  OP  MASSACHUSETTS.  —  CASTE. 

The  Law  of  Massachusetts.  —  Petitions.  —  Keport  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  —  Debate.  — 
Mr.  Davis's  Report.  —  Mr.  Bradburn's  Bill.  —  General  Howe's  Bill.  —  Sharp 
Debate.  —  Repeal  of  the  Law.  —  Colored  Persons  excluded  from  the  Cars.  — 
Scene  on  the  Eastern  Railroad.  —  Action  of  the  Legislature.  —  Colored  Schools. 
—  Controversy  in  Nantucket.  —  Petitions  to  the  Legislature.  —  Mr.  Barrett's 
Bill.  —  Defeated.  —  Mr.  Wilson's  Motion  to  reconsider.  —  Earnest  Debate.  — 
Reconsidered.  —  Bill  passed.  —  Action  of  Boston  School  Committee. 

THE  Divine  declaration  that  what  a  man  soweth  that  also 
shall  he  reap  is  quite  as  true  of  nations  as  of  individuals. 
Nowhere  has  the  retributive  nature  of  sin  appeared  more 
manifest  than  in  the  history  of  American  slavery.  For  long 
years  after  the  guilty  cause  has  disappeared  have  the  wretched 
effects  remained.  Even  in  Massachusetts,  first  among  the  old 
thirteen  States  to  discard  slavery,  did  the  consequences  linger 
in  some  of  her  laws,  in  the  customs  of  society,  and  in  preju 
dices  which  in  many  minds,  with  unreasoning  and  unfeeling 
pertinacity,  set  at  naught  the  principles  of  justice  and  human 
ity,  to  say  nothing  of  the  sublime  principles  of  Christianity. 
Like  the  vicious  indulgences  of  youth,  though  discarded  in 
riper  years,  it  left  its  enfeebling  effects  in  the  system.  Though 
early  in  form  removed,  it  left  many  bitter  legacies  behind  to 
test  the  temper  of  the  people  and  make  work  for  after  genera 
tions.  The  law  against  the  intermarriage  of  blacks  with 
whites,  the  rules  in  many  cities  and  towns  against  colored 
children  attending  the  same  schools  with  whites,  and  the  regu 
lations  on  some  railroads  excluding  blacks  from  the  cars  of 
whites,  were  examples. 

These  invidious  discriminations  and  obnoxious  regulations 
were  among  the  early  objects  of  assault  by  the  Abolitionists. 


THE   INTERMARRIAGE  LAW   OF   MASSACHUSETTS.  489 

In  the  session  of  1839  several  petitions  were  presented,  pray 
ing  for  the  repeal  of  the  act  against  intermarriage.  Some  of 
these  petitions  were  from  women,  —  a  fact  which  subjected  them 
to  special  reproach  not  only  in  the  public  press,  but  in  the 
legislature  itself.  The  petitions  were  referred  to  the  Commit 
tee  on  the  Judiciary,  which  reported  that  the  petitioners  have 
leave  to  withdraw.  This  report  was  made  by  William  Lincoln 
of  Worcester,  brother  of  the  ex-governor,  Levi  Lincoln.  Its 
spirit  and  purport  may  be  gathered  from  a  single  paragraph: 
"  Lest  future  historians  should  form  an  erroneous  estimate  of 
the  manners  and  morals  of  the  age,  it  is  desirable  to  afford 
these  persons,  styling  themselves  ladies,  an  opportunity  to 
reconsider  their  opinions  on  matrimonial  and  constitutional 
rights,  and  to  remove  their  names  from  the  rolls  on  which 
they  are  written." 

The  repeal  of  the  law  was  vigorously  resisted  by  Franklin 
Dexter,  an  eminent  lawyer  of  Boston.  Minot  Thayer,  too,  a 
veteran  member  of  the  House,  opposed  any  legislation  in  a 
vituperative  speech.  Referring  to  a  petition  signed  by  a  large 
number  of  ladies  in  Dorchester,  he  had  the  bad  taste  to  ex 
press  the  opinion  that  there  were  not  ten  virtuous  women 
among  them. 

George  Bradburn,  then  a  representative  from  Nan  tucket, 
defended  the  petitioners,  and  advocated  the  principle  embod 
ied  in  their  petition.  He  replied  with  merciless  severity  to 
the  arguments  of  Dexter  and  Thayer  ;  and  in  response  to 
their  assertion  that  the  repeal  would  encourage  amalgamation, 
he  asserted  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  would  most  effectually 
discourage  it. 

At  the  session  of  1840,  George  T.  Davis,  then  a  representa 
tive  from  Greenfield,  reported  in  favor  of  repealing  the  law. 
The  report  maintained  that  the  act  sprung  from  social  preju 
dices  ;  was  based  on  the  idea  of  social  inequality  ;  was  unequal 
and  invidious  in  its  operations  ;  facilitated  injustice  and  pro 
moted  licentiousness.  "  This  law,"  it  said,  "  is  the  last  relic 
of  the  old  slave  code  of  Massachusetts,  and  is  the  only  legisla 
tive  recognition  to  be  found  in  our  statute-book  of  inequality 
among  the  different  races  of  our  citizens.  It  stands  in  direct 

62 


490        RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA, 

and  odious  contrast  with  all  our  principles  and  our  practice  in 
other  particulars.  It  gives  the  lie  to  the  sentiments  which  we 
have  heretofore  expressed  to  Congress  and  the  world  on  the 
subject  of  slavery  ;  for,  by  denying  to  our  colored  fellow-citi 
zens  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  freemen,  we  virtually 
assert  their  inequality,  and  justify  that  theory  of  negro  slav 
ery  which  represents  it  as  a  necessary  state  of  tutelage  and 
guardianship. " 

In  the  debate  that  followed,  Mr.  Bradburn  maintained  that 
the  law  had  not  the  word  "  white  "  in  it  originally,  but  pro 
vided  that  no  person  of  a  Christian  nation  should  marry  a 
negro  or  mulatto  ;  and  that  in  1786  Indians  were  included, 
and  the  word  "  white  "  then  inserted.  He  asserted  that  the 
law  was  unconstitutional,  authorized  robbery,  encouraged 
amalgamation,  and  abrogated  the  law  of  God.  Mr.  Theophi- 
lus  Parsons,  then  a  member  from  the  city  of  Boston,  admit 
ted  that  he  had  been  opposed  to  the  passage  of  the  bill ;  but 
his  objections  had  been  overcome,  and  he  should  then  vote  for 
it.  Thayer,  Dexter,  and  Lincoln,  who  had  so  strenuously 
opposed  the  repeal  at  the  preceding  session,  continued  their 
opposition.  If  "they  were  less  vituperative,  they  were  no  less 
determined  in  their  hostility.  The  bill  passed  the  House  by  a 
majority  of  one.  It  then  passed  the  Senate  ;  but  was  defeated 
in  the  House  on  its  engrossment, 

But  the  Abolitionists  and  the  other  friends  of  equal  rights 
were  persistent.  Petitions  were  presented  in  1841 ;  and  Mr. 
Bradburn,  from  a  committee  to  which  they  were  referred, 
brought  in  a  bill  to  repeal  the  obnoxious  law,  accompanied  by 
an  elaborate  report.  It  failed,  however,  in  the  House.  A 
similar  bill  was  reported  to  the  Senate  by  General  Appleton 
Howe.  It  passed  that  body  by  the  casting  vote  of  its  presi 
dent,  Daniel  P.  King,  afterward  a  representative  in  Congress. 
It  was,  however,  defeated  in  the  House  by  a  majority  of  thirty- 
six.  Not  discouraged  by  this  defeat,  the  antislavery  men  of 
Massachusetts  again  appealed  to  the  people  and  to  the  legisla 
ture.  At  the  next  session  a  bill  was  reported  in  the  Senate  by 
Seth  Sprague,  Jr.,  and  passed  that  body  by  a  vote  of  twenty- 
four  to  nine. 


THE  INTERMARRIAGE   LAW   OF   MASSACHUSETTS.  491 

In  the  House  an  earnest  debate  arose.  Mr.  Marcy,  a  Demo 
cratic  member  from  Greenwich,  denounced  the  bill  as  an  inno 
vation,  which  would  be  speedily  followed  by  another,  allowing 
the  blacks  to  ride  in  the  cars  with  the  whites.  Mr.  Gibbens, 
a  merchant  of  Boston,  declared  that  he  would  rather  follow 
his  daughter  to  the  tomb  than  that  she  should  be  married  to  a 
black  man.  He  denounced  the  measure  as  an  experiment 
fraught  with  the  most  disastrous  consequences  to  the  manners 
and  morals  of  the  people.  John  C.  Park  of  Boston  vehe 
mently  opposed  the  passage  of  the  bill,  and  maintained  the  con 
stitutionality  and  expediency  of  the  existing  law.  The  legis 
lature,  he  said,  could  pass  laws  for  the  preservation  of  hens 
and  fishes,  and  for  the  improvement  of  the  breeds  of  cattle, 
sheep,  and  pigs ;  but  when  the  question  came  of  preserving 
their  own  race  from  the  deterioration  which  must  inevitably 
follow  amalgamation,  their  constitutional  scruples  were  inter 
posed. 

Seth  J.  Thomas,  a  representative  from  Charlestown,  one 
of  the  leaders  of  the  Democratic  party,  declared  that  con 
servatism  was  the  "  party  of  yesterday  "  ;  but  he  belonged  to 
the  party  of  to-day,  and  was  in  favor  of  turning  the  world 
topsy  turvy,  providing  things  were  made  better  by  it.  "  The 
black  man,"  he  said,  "  will  have  his  day,  and  I  want  him  to 
have  it  peaceably,  else  he  will  be  obliged  to  use  force,  which  is 
the  last  resort  of  kings.  And  if  that  necessity  is  resorted  to, 
although  I  should  regret  it,  yet  in  the  great  cause  of  human 
rights  I  should  rush  into  the  battle  as  gladly  as  I  would  to  a 
bridal-feast."  His  subsequent  course  hardly  warranted  quite 
so  confident  a  boast.  He  did  not  anticipate,  when  he  uttered 
it,  that  in  a  few  years  he  would  be  found,  not  rushing  to  the 
rescue  of  the  fearful  and  fainting  fugitive,  but  as  the  paid 
attorney  in  the  ignoble  work  of  remanding  him  back  to  the 
bondage  from  which  he  was  vainly  striving  to  escape. 

Charles  Francis  Adams,  complimenting  Mr.  Park  on  his 
eloquent  speech,  proceeded  to  reply  to  it  in  a  clear  and  un 
answerable  argument.  Henry  Wilson,  a  representative  from 
Natick,  avowed  himself  in  favor  of  the  repeal  of  the  act, 
as  it  was  founded  on  inequality  and  caste.  No  act  of  that 


492        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

kind,  he  asserted,  dishonored  other  New  England  States. 
He  declared  that  the  bill  was  not  inspired  by  political,  but  by 
humane  motives  ;  and,  though  it  might  be  defeated  then,  it 
would  ultimately  be  enacted.  It  was  only  a  question  of  time. 
It  was  shown  by  John  P.  Robinson  of  Lowell  that  the  law  had 
been  passed  as  a  protection  against  heathenism  and  paganism, 
that  the  question  of  its  constitutionality  had  been  evaded  by 
the  Supreme  Court,  that  it  had  become  a  dead  letter,  and  that 
it  ought  to  be  repealed.  Prejudice  and  passion,  however,  again 
triumphed,  and  the  bill  was  defeated  by  a  majority  of  four. 

At  the  next  session  the  Democrats  had  a  majority  in 
both  houses  of  the  legislature.  A  bill  repealing  the  law  was 
reported  in  the  Senate  by  George  Hood  of  Essex  County, 
which  passed  without  a  division.  In  the  House  it  was  opposed 
by  Gibbens  and  Park  of  Boston,  and  supported  by  Whitmarsh 
of  Seekonk,  Prince  of  Essex,  Wheatland  of  Salem,  and  Adams 
of  Boston  ;  but  it  passed  by  a  decided  majority. 

It  was  the  same  unchristian  prejudice,  with  far  less  apparent 
reason,  which  induced  the  regulations  adopted  by  railroads  to 
exclude  persons  of  color  from  the  ordinary  passenger  cars, 
and  compelled  them  to  ride  in  cars  by  themselves,  or  some 
times,  without  regard  to  tastes,  character,  or  means,  in  "  sec 
ond-class  "  cars,  bare  and  comfortless,  the  enforced  receptacle 
of  all  who  from  any  cause  would  not  or  could  not  take  their 
seats  in  the  first  class.  The  two  railroad  corporations  in  Mas 
sachusetts,  which  were  prominent  in  making  and  enforcing 
these  odious  regulations,  were  the  Eastern  and  New  Bedford. 
On  the  New  Bedford  road,  outrages  were  often  perpetrated  on 
persons  of  color,  and  sometimes  on  those  friends  who  remon 
strated  against  their  treatment.  In  the  year  1841  David  Rug- 
gles,  a  colored  man  of  New  York,  who  had  aided  six  hundred 
of  his  countrymen  in  escaping  from  servitude,  was  ejected 
from  the  cars,  against  the  earnest  protest  of  Rev.  John  M. 
Spear,  for  the  simple  offence  of  taking  a  seat  with  white  pas 
sengers.  He  brought  an  action  in  the  Police  Court  of  New 
Bedford  against  the  employees  of  the  company  for  an  ag 
gravated  assault ;  but  Justice  Crapo  promptly  discharged  the 
defendants. 


CASTE.  493 

Scenes  of  violence  were  of  frequent  occurrence  on  the 
Eastern  Railroad.  Colored  persons  of  intelligence  and  char 
acter  were,  in  several  instances,  violently  dragged  from  the 
cars  occupied  by  white  passengers  ;  and  in  some  cases  their 
friends,  who  remonstrated  against  such  brutality,  were  treated 
in  like  manner.  Among  the  persons  forcibly  ejected  from 
these  cars  was  Frederick  Douglass,  among  the  most  gifted 
of  his  race.  The  general  agent  of  the  Massachusetts  Anti- 
slavery  Society  was  repeatedly  insulted,  while  travelling  upon 
that  road,  for  remonstrating  against  its  unjust  and  inhuman 
usages  ;  and  in  one  instance  he  received  blows  and  kicks, 
the  effects  of  which  were  felt  for  weeks.  On  one  occasion  a 
well-known  colored  man  being  ejected,  and  Dr.  Daniel  Mann 
and  several  white  passengers  remonstrating  against  such  con 
duct,  the  latter  were  dragged  from  the  cars,  and  prohibited 
from  continuing  their  journey  "  unless  they  behaved  them 
selves."  Dr.  Mann  brought  an  action  in  the  police  court  of 
Boston  against  the  conductor  of  the  train  ;  but  he  failed  to 
obtain  any  redress  for  such  high-handed  outrages. 

This  conduct  excited  the  deepest  indignation.  Public  meet 
ings  were  held,  the  managers  of  the  road  censured,  and  the 
interference  of  the  legislature  invoked.  The  "  Lynn  Record," 
edited  by  Daniel  Henshaw,  a  gentleman  of  integrity,  charac 
ter,  and  moral  courage,  denounced  the  ruffianism  of  such  pro 
ceedings  in  the  most  direct  and  fearless  manner. 

In  spite,  however,  of  all  remonstrances,  the  managers  of 
that  corporation  persisted  in  the  enforcement  of  their  harsh 
and  unjust  regulations.  A  striking  instance  of  this  was  mani 
fested  on  the  return  from  his  foreign  tour  of  Charles  Lenox 
Remond.  He  was  a  native  of  Salem,  a  gentleman  of  intel 
ligence,  of  personal  worth,  and  prepossessing  manners.  In 
England,  where  he  had  spent  nearly  two  years,  he  had  vindi 
cated  the  cause  of  the  oppressed,  and  had  won  the  confidence 
and  applause  of  the  British  Abolitionists.  He  was  everywhere 
hailed  as  the  champion  of  his  race,  and  treated  with  the  most 
friendly  and  respectful  consideration.  He  bore  from  Eng 
land  the  warmest  sympathies  and  best  wishes  of  the  friends 
of  emancipation.  He  was  commissioned  to  bear  the  address 


494       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

of  sixty  thousand  Irishmen  to  their  countrymen  in  America, 
headed  by  the  names  of  Daniel  O'Connell  and  Father  Mathew. 
Arriving  in  Boston,  he  went  to  the  Eastern  Railroad  Station 
to  take  passage  for  his  home  in  Salem.  He  was  not  allowed, 
however,  to  take  his  seat  with  the  other  passengers,  but  com 
pelled  to  occupy  what  was  called  the  "  Jim  Crow  "  car.  Sev 
eral  of  his  white  friends,  wishing  to  welcome  him  on  his 
return,  met  him  at  the  station,  and  took  seats  with  him.  They 
were  ordered,  however,  by  the  conductor,  to  leave  voluntarily, 
or  to  be  removed  by  force.  Thus  was  this  gentleman  of  char 
acter  and  culture,  fresh  from  his  travels  and  the  hospitalities 
of  the  best  families  of  England,  rudely  and  roughly  treated 
on  his  arrival  in  his  native  State.  And  not  only  that,  but  so 
inveterate  and  implacable  was  the  prejudice  that  it  visited 
upon  his  admiring  friends  a  kind  of  vicarious  punishment  for 
the  crime  of  cherishing  and  exhibiting  anything  like  feelings 
of  regard  and  sympathy  in  his  behalf. 

Petitions  and  memorials  were  sent  to  the  legislature  demand 
ing  legislation  against  such  arbitrary  proceedings,  and  that  pro 
tection  which  could  not  be  obtained  from  the  managers  of  the 
roads  or  from  the  judicial  tribunals.  These  were  referred  to  a 
committee  before  whom  there  was  a  public  hearing.  The  com 
mittee  was  addressed  by  Wendell  Phillips,  Mr.  Remond,  and 
Ellis  Gray  Loring.  A  bill  was  reported  by  Seth  Sprague,  Jr.  ; 
but  interest  and  prejudice  bore  sway,  and  it  failed  to  pass  the 
Senate.  The  outrages  continuing,  similar  petitions  were  pre 
sented  at  the  next  session,  and  a  bill  was  reported  to  the 
House;  but  it  failed  of  enactment,  being  indefinitely  post 
poned  by  a  majority  of  more  than  one  hundred.  Mr.  Adams, 
a  member  of  the  committee  that  reported  the  bill,  admitted 
the  legality,  but  doubted  the  expediency,  of  such  a  law.  There 
were  but  two  railroads  that  made  the  obnoxious  regulations 
which  he  thought  should  be  at  once  abandoned.  He  doubted 
whether  the  time  had  come  for  a  general  law,  and  advised 
waiting  to  see  if  the  point  could  not  be  gained  without  legis 
lation. 

The  managers  of  these  corporations,  seeing  the  determined 
purpose  of  the  friends   of  freedom  and   the  temper  of   the 


CASTE.  495 

legislature,  adopted  Mr.  Adams's  advice,  and  gave  up  their 
arbitrary  discriminations  and  tyrannical  regulations.  So  an 
other  victory  was  won,  and  another  of  the  hateful  relics  of  the 
slave  system,  that  once  disgraced  the  land  of  the  Pilgrims,  was 
removed. 

Many  of  the  large  towns  and  cities  in  Massachusetts  de 
manded  separation  between  black  and  white  pupils  in  the 
schools  and  seminaries  of  learning.  Even  the  common 
schools,  sustained  by  law,  to  whose  benefits  all  were  entitled 
without  distinction  of  color,  did  not  escape  the  hateful  dis 
crimination.  Though  all  were  equally  taxed  for  their  support, 
yet  all  could  not  alike  partake  of  the  privileges  they  afforded. 
To  put  the  brand  of  inferiority  upon  innocent  and  unoffending 
childhood,  to  lay  upon  it  unnecessary  as  well  as  unrighteous 
burdens  as  it  started  on  the  journey  of  life,  found  by  its 
oppressors,  with  all  the  advantages  of  birth,  position,  and 
superior  culture,  at  best,  hard  and  harsh  enough,  was  as  really 
disgraceful  as  it  was  unchristian. 

Many  saw  the  gross  injustice  and  undeserved  opprobrium 
involved  in  such  discrimination,  and  its  manifest  tendency  to 
perpetuate  the  existence  and  evils  of  caste  in  communities 
where  such  a  policy  was  adopted.  Protests  in  various  forms 
were  entered  against  it.  In  the  city  of  Salem  there  sprang 
up  a  sharp  controversy.  Stephen  C.  Phillips,  its  mayor,  main 
tained  the  right  of  the  colored  children  to  the  full  and  com 
plete  benefit  of  the  common  schools.  And  it  was  chiefly 
through  his  influence  that  a  legal  opinion  was  obtained  from 
Richard  Fletcher,  one  of  the  most  eminent  and  conscientious 
lawyers  of  the  State,  in  which  he  maintained  that  these  schools 
were  contrary  to  the  constitution  of  the  Commonwealth. 

In  Nantucket,  too,  the  same  matter  became  the  subject  of  an 
excited  controversy.  It  was  brought  before  the  town  in  1844, 
by  the  report  of  the  school  committee  recommending  that  no 
discrimination  should  be  made  between  the  children  of  the 
two  races.  The  report  was  not,  however,  sustained,  but  was 
indefinitely  postponed.  A  resolution  was  carried  in  town 
meeting  that  colored  children  should  be  instructed  by  them 
selves,  if  deemed  practicable  by  the  school  committee.  A 


496        RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWEE  IN  AMERICA. 

portion,  however,  of  the  citizens,  aggrieved  by  this  decision, 
held  a  public  meeting,  largely  attended  by  many  of  the  most 
enlightened  of  its  inhabitants,  and  presided  over  by  John  H. 
Shaw.  They  protested  against  the  action  of  the  town  as 
unchristian,  as  a  flagrant  violation  of  the  State  constitution 
and  of  the  laws  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  as  imposing  an 
additional  tax  upon  the  people.  They  invoked  the  friends  of 
law  and  order,  morality  and  religion,  freedom  and  equality,  to 
act  in  defence  of  the  just  claims  of  their  colored  population. 

In  1845  petitions  were  presented  to  the  legislature  in  favor 
of  legislation.  They  were  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Edu 
cation,  hearings  were  had,  and. a  bill  was  reported  to  the  Senate 
by  Mr.  Barrett  of  Hampshire,  providing  that  any  child  unlaw 
fully  excluded  from  the  public  schools  should  be  entitled  to 
recover  damages  in  the  courts  of  the  Commonwealth.  Com 
ing  up  for  consideration  on  the  18th  of  February,  it  was 
rejected. 

The  next  day  Mr.  Wilson  moved  a  reconsideration  of  the 
vote  by  which  it  was  rejected.  He  expressed  his  regret  at 
the  failure  of  the  bill,  which  he  represented  as  the  most  im 
portant  that  had  come  up  during  the  session.  "  It  concerned," 
he  said,  "  the  rights  and  feelings  of  a  large  but  humble  portion 
of  our  people,  whose  interests  should  be  watched  over  and 
cared  for  by  the  legislature,  whose  imperative  duty  it  was, 
when  complaints  were  made  of  the  invasion  of  the  rights  of 
the  poorest  and  humblest,  to  provide  a  remedy  that  should  be 
full  and  ample  to  secure  and  guard  all  his  rights."  He  said 
the  common-school  system,  the  pride  and  glory  of  Massachu 
setts,  was  based  upon  the  principle  of  perfect  equality,  and 
that  the  distinction  set  up  at  Nantucket  aimed  a  blow  at  its 
very  existence.  The  colored  people  felt,  and  rightly,  that 
their  feelings  were  trifled  with  and  their  rights  disregarded. 
Denouncing  the  spirit  that  excluded  colored  children  from  the 
full  and  equal  benefits  of  the  common  schools,  he  said :  "  It 
is  the  same  which  has  drenched  the  world  with  blood  for 
six  thousand  years,  made  a  slaveholder  in  South  Carolina  and 
a  slave-pirate  on  the  coast  of  Africa."  He  said  that  those 
whose  rights  he  wished  to  guard  and  secure  had  but  little 


CASTE.  497 

influence  or  power ;  while  those  who  opposed  them  had  both, 
and  were  only  too  willing  to  use  them  for  their  own  aggran 
dizement.  It  was  more  popular  to  keep  along  with  the 
current  of  prejudice  than  by  resisting  it  to  be  denounced  "  a 
Radical  or  Abolitionist."  "  In  retiring  from  the  legislature," 
he  said,  "  I  am  sustained  by  the  consciousness  that  I  have 
never  uttered  a  word  or  given  a  vote  against  the  rights  of  any 
human  being.  I  had  far  rather  have  the  warm  and  generous 
thanks  of  one  poor  orphan  boy  down  on  the  island  of  Nan- 
tucket,  that  I  may  never  see,  nor  even  know,  than  to  have  the 
approbation  of  every  man  in  the  Commonwealth,  whether  in 
this  chamber  or  out  of  it,  who  would  deny  to  any  child  the  full 
and  equal  benefits  of  our  public  schools." 

Mr.  Adams  of  Suffolk  thought,  if  white  children  left  the 
common  school  because  colored  children  were  admitted,  the 
sooner  they  went  the  better.  Such  distinctions  in  the  com 
mon  schools  sanctioned  an  aristocracy  which  he  did  not 
acknowledge. 

There  were  several  senators,  however,  who  advocated  the 
exclusive  policy.  Mr.  Livermore  of  Middlesex  County  avowed 
his  opposition  to  the  proposed  legislation.  Referring  to  some 
remonstrants  from  Nantucket,  he  said  they  had  fairly  shown 
that  no  real  injury  was  inflicted.  If  the  colored  children  were 
excluded  from  the  High  School  of  Nantucket,  "  it  was  not  on 
account  of  their  color,  but  of  their  capacity."  "I  dislike," 
he  said,  "  the  philanthropic  hobby-horses,  and  am  not  dis 
posed  to  mount  any  of  them."  Mr.  Clifford  of  Bristol,  after 
ward  attorney-general  and  governor,  warmly  eulogized  the 
people  and  schools  of  Nantucket,  and  denied  that  the  col 
ored  children  there  were  deprived  of  their  privileges.  He 
would  not  sacrifice,  he  said,  the  larger  class  for  the  benefit 
of  the  smaller.  Mr.  Park  of  Suffolk  traced  the  history  and 
establishment  of  the  Smith  School  in  Boston.  Referring  to 
the  objection  of  the  greater  distance  some  colored  children 
must  walk  by  this  arrangement,  he  said  :  u  Boys  in  the  coun 
try  have  frequently  to  walk  miles  through  the  snows  of  winter 
to  attend  the  district  school."  Mr.  Stone  of  Worcester  Coun 
ty  opposed  any  action.  If  the  bill  passed,  he  said,  "  interest 

63 


498        RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

in  the  public  schools  would  be  lost,  and  less  money  would  be 
raised.  By  driving  the  colored  children  in,  they  will  drive 
the  white  children  out."  Mr.  Lawrence  of  Hampshire  said 
if  they  could  legislate  to  the  last  moment  of  time  they  could 
not  change  or  remedy  the  difficulty  complained  of.  "The 
Ethiopian,"  he  said,  "  cannot  change  his  skin,  nor  the  leopard 
his  spot ;  neither  can  the  white  man  change  his  tastes,  nor  his 
prejudices  against  the  colored  race.  I  do  not  justify  it ;  I  de 
plore  it.  But  it  exists,  and  we  cannot  change  it." 

After  an  earnest  debate,  Mr.  Wilson's  motion  was  adopted 
by  a  large  majority,  and  the  bill  was  then  committed  to  the 
judiciary  committee.  That  committee  reported  a  bill  in 
accordance  with  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners,  which  passed 
and  became  the  law  of  the  Commonwealth. 

A  few  weeks  after  the  passage  of  the  act  a  petition  was  pre 
sented  to  the  school  committee  of  Boston,  from  the  colored 
citizens,  praying  that  "  separate  schools  for  colored  children 
should  be  abolished,  and  that  said  children  be  permitted  to  at 
tend  the  schools  in  their  several  districts."  Vigorous  efforts 
were  made  by  Dr.  Henry  I.  Bowditch,  in  which  he  was  earnestly 
supported  by  Albert  J.  Wright  and  Dr.  Charles  A.  Phelps. 
But  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of 
twelve  to  forty-five.  The  spirit  of  caste  still  lingered  in  por 
tions  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  legislation  so  just  and  equita 
ble  could  not  then  be  secured. 


CHAPTER    XXXV. 

POSITION   OP  THE   COLOEED   PEOPLE.  —  FREDERICK  DOUGLASS. 

Sentiments  of  the  Colored  People.  —  Diverse  Influences  of  Slavery  and  Freedom. 

—  Childhood  of  Frederick  Douglass.  —  Cruelties  of  Slavery  illustrated.  —  At 
tempts  to  escape.  —  Sent  to  Baltimore.  —  Became  a  Ship-caulker.  —  Escaped 
to  New  York.  —  Introduced  to  Mr.  Ruggles.  —  Arrived  at  New  Bedford.  — 
Works  in  a  Ship-yard.  —  Addresses  an  Antislavery  Convention  in  Nantucket. 

—  Impressions  made  upon  Garrison  and  Rogers.  —  Becomes  Agent  of  the  Mas 
sachusetts  Antislavery  Society.  —  Wonderful  Effects  of  his  Speeches.  —  His 
Devotion  to  the  Cause  of  his  Race.  —  Publishes  his  Autobiography.  —  Visits 
England.  —  Reasons  for  going. — Establishes  the  "North  Star."  —  Immense 
Labors  of  Twenty  Years. 

WHILE  the  free  colored  people  instinctively  distrusted  the 
Colonization  Society,  and  withheld  their  confidence  from  it, 
they  at  once  and  heartily  accepted  the  abolition  movement. 
This  was  especially  true  of  the  more  intelligent  and  well-in 
formed.  Among  the  colored  ministers  there  were  several  who, 
seeing  its  religious  as  well  as  humane  bearings,  rendered  es 
sential  aid  to  the  cause.  A  few  others  did  something  in  the 
same  direction,  arousing  public  attention  and  quickening  the 
zeal  of  the  friends  of  freedom. 

But  in  1841  a  champion  arose  in  the  person  of  Frederick 
Douglass,  who  was  destined  to  play  an  important  part  in  the 
great  drama  then  in  progress.  In  him  not  only  did  the  col 
ored  race  but  manhood  itself  find  a  worthy  representative  and 
advocate  ;  one  who  was  a  signal  illustration,  not  only  of  self- 
culture  and  success  under  the  most  adverse  circumstances,  but 
of  the  fact  that  talent  and  genius  are  "  color-blind,"  and  above 
the  accidents  of  complexion  and  birth.  He,  too,  furnished  an 
example  of  the  terrible  necessities  of  slavery,  and  its  purpose 
and  power  to  crush  out  the  human  soul ;  as  also  of  the  benign 
energies  of  freedom  to  arouse,  to  develop,  and  enlarge  its  high- 


500       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

est  and  noblest  faculties,  —  the  one  aiming,  and  almost  succeed 
ing  in  the  attempt,  to  make  him  a  mere  mindless  and  purposeless 
chattel ;  the  other  actually  and  indissolubly  linking  his  name 
and  labors  with  the  antislavery  cause,  both  in  this  country  and 
in  Europe.  As  few  of  the  world's  great  men  have  ever  had  so 
checkered  and  diversified  a  career,  so  it  may  be  at  least  plausi 
bly  claimed  that  no  man  represents  in  himself  more  conflicting 
ideas  and  interests.  His  life  is  in  itself  an  epic  which  finds 
few  to  equal  it  in  the  realms  of  either  romance  or  reality. 

Frederick  Douglass  was  born  on  the  Eastern  Shore,  Mary 
land,  about  the  year  1817.  According  to  the  necessities  of 
slavery  and  the  usual  practice  of  slave-masters,  he  was  taken 
from  his  mother  when  an  infant,  consequently  deprived  of  even 
the  rude  care  which  maternal  instinct  might  have  prompted, 
and  placed  under  the  guardianship  of  his  grandmother,  with 
whom  he  lived  until  he  was  seven  years  of  age.  At  the  age  of 
ten  he  was  sent  to  Baltimore,  to  be  the  companion  and  protector 
of  the  son  of  a  young  married  couple,  who,  in  consequence  of 
general  refinement  of  character  and  his  proposed  relation  to 
their  darling  boy,  treated  him,  at  first,  kindly.  This  change 
Mr.  Douglass  ever  regarded  as  a  providential  interposition,  — 
as  the  turning-point  where  his  pathway,  leaving  the  descend 
ing  grade  of  slave  life,  entered  upon  that  which  led  him  in 
that  widely  divergent  and  upward  direction  it  has  since  pur 
sued.  Leaving  the  rude  experience  of  the  plantation,  with  the 
barren  and  desert-like  surroundings  of  the  Eastern  Shore,  for 
the  bustle  and  necessary  companionship  of  the  city,  an  opportun 
ity  of  learning  to  read  was  afforded  him,  which  he  most  sedu 
lously  and  successfully,  though  surreptitiously,  improved.  But 
the  friendliness  which  his  master  and  mistress  had  so  gener 
ously  extended  to  him  as  an  ignorant  slave,  they  felt  obliged, 
by  the  necessities  of  the  system,  to  withhold  from  him  now 
that  he  could  read,  and  had  learned  to  question  the  rightful- 
ness  of  slavery  and  to  chafe  under  its  chains. 

Returned  to  the  Eastern  Shore,  he  encountered  the  rigors 
of  plantation  life,  greatly  increased  by  the  drunken  caprices 
of  an  intemperate  master,  and  doubtless  aggravated  by  his 
own  impatient  and  contumacious  rebellings  under  such  slave- 


FREDERICK  DOUGLASS.  501 

holding  restraint.  This,  however,  was  but  a  prelude  to  an  ex 
perience  graver  and  still  more  tragic.  Despairing  of  control 
ling  young  Douglass  himself,  his  owner  placed  him  —  as  men 
place  their  unbroken  colts  under  the  care  of  horse-trainers  — 
in  the  hands  of  a  professed  negro-breaker,  known  through  the 
region  as  a  cruel  and  merciless  man,  who  had  not  only  gained 
that  reputation,  but  founci  it  necessary  or  for  his  interest  to 
maintain  it.  Concerning  this  change  Mr.  Douglass  remarks, 
after  referring  to  the  "  comparative  tenderness  "  with  which 
he  had  been  treated  at  Baltimore  :  "  I  was  now  about  to  sound 
profounder  depths  in  slave  life.  The  rigors  of  a  field  less  tol 
erable  than  the  field  of  battle  were  before  me."  That  his  ap 
prehensions  were  not  groundless  these  extracts,  taken  from  his 
autobiography,  abundantly  show :  "  I  had  not  been  in  his  pos 
session  three  whole  days  before  he  subjected  me  to  a  most 
brutal  chastisement.  Under  his  heavy  blows  blood  flowed 
freely ;  the  wales  were  left  on  my  back  as  large  as  my  little 
finger.  The  sores  on  my  back  from  this  whipping  continued 
for  weeks."  "  I  remained  with  Mr.  Corey  one  year,  cannot  say 
I  lived  with  him,  and  during  the  first  six  months  that  I  was 
there  I  was  whipped  either  with  sticks  or  cowskins  every  week. 
Aching  bones  and  a  sore  back  were  my  constant  companions. 
Frequently  as  the  lash  was  used,  however,  Mr.  Corey  thought 
less  of  it,  as  a  means  of  breaking  down  my  spirit,  than  of  hard 
and  long-continued  labor.  He  worked  me  steadily  up  to  the 
point  of  my  powers  of  endurance.  From  the  dawn  of  day  in 
the  morning  till  the  darkness  was  complete  in  the  evening,  I 
was  kept  at  hard  work  in  the  field  or  the  woods." 

He  gave  accounts  of  individual  cases  of  brutal  chastise 
ment  which  were  revolting  almost  beyond  conception ;  while 
his  concise  description  of  himself  "  as  a  living  embodiment  of 
mental  and  physical  wretchedness  "  seems  but  a  natural  result. 
"  A  few  months  of  discipline,"  he  says,  "  tamed  me.  Mr.  Corey 
succeeded  in  breaking  me.  I  was  broken  in  body,  soul,  and 
spirit.  My  natural  elasticity  was  crushed ;  my  intellect  lan 
guished  ;  the  disposition  to  read  departed ;  the  cheerful  spark 
that  lingered  about  my  eye  died  ;  the  dark  night  of  slavery 
closed  in  upon  me ;  and  behold  a  man  transformed  into  a  brute." 


502        KISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

Having  completed  his  year  with  Corey,  he  was  hired  out  to 
another  and  more  humane  master.  But  the  iron  of  slavery 
rankled  in  his  soul,  and  he  could  not  endure  its  galling  re 
straints,  however  softened  by  kindness.  After  long  rumina 
tion  upon  the  subject,  and  conferences  with  four  or  five  of  his 
companions  in  bondage,  he  proposed  and  planned  an  attempt 
to  escape.  Betrayed,  however,  by  a  confederate,  they  were 
prevented  from  carrying  their  attempt  into  execution,  and  were 
arrested  and  imprisoned.  Instead  of  being  "  sold  South  "  — 
that  dreaded  alternative  of  success,  which  held  back  thousands 
from  making  the  attempt  —  he  was  sent  again  to  Baltimore. 
Being  nearly  murdered  by  the  carpenters  of  a  ship-yard,  because 
of  their  jealousy  of  slave  competition  with  white  labor, — a 
crime  for  which  no  indictment  could  be  found,  though  sought, 
because  no  white  witnesses  would  testify  against  his  brutal  as 
sailants,  —  he  was  sent  to  another  yard  to  learn  the  trade  of  a 
calker.  Becoming  an  expert  workman,  he  was  permitted  to 
make  his  own  contracts,  returning  his  week's  wages  every  Sat 
urday  night  to  his  master.  At  the  same  time  —  which  was  of 
more  importance  to  him  —  he  was  permitted  to  associate  with 
some  free  colored  men,  who  had  formed  a  kind  of  lyceum  for 
their  mutual  improvement,  and  by  means  of  which  he  was  en 
abled  to  increase  materially  his  knowledge  and  mental  culture. 
All  of  this,  however,  did  but  increase  his  sense  of  the  essential 
injustice  of  slavery,  and  make  him  more  restive  under  its  gall 
ing  chains.  Accordingly  he  made  his  plans,  now  successful, 
and  on  the  third  day  of  September,  1838,  he  says,  "  I  bade 
farewell  to  the  city  of  Baltimore,  and  to  that  slavery  which  had 
been  my  abhorrence  from  childhood."  For  prudential  reasons 
the  particulars  of  his  mode  of  escape  were  withheld  from  the 
public  knowledge,  as  they  were  of  little  comparative  impor 
tance  ;  while,  had  they  been  known  then,  they  might  have 
compromised  some  and  hedged  up  the  way  of  escape  of  others. 

Landing  in  New  York,  a  homeless,  penniless,  and  friendless 
fugitive,  he  thus  describes  his  feelings :  "  In  the  midst  of 
thousands  of  my  fellow-men,  and  yet  a  perfect  stranger !  In 
the  midst  of  human  brothers,  and  yet  more  fearful  of  them 
than  of  hungry  wolves  !  I  was  without  home,  without  friends, 


FREDEEICK  DOUGLASS.  503 

without  work,  without  money,  and  without  any  definite  knowl 
edge  of  which  way  to  go  or  where  to  look  for  succor."  In 
the  midst  of  his  perplexities  he  met  a  sailor,  whose  seeming 
frankness  and  honesty  won,  as  they  deserved,  his  confidence. 
He  introduced  him  to  David  Ruggles,  chairman  of  the  Vigi 
lance  Committee,  a  colored  gentleman  of  much  intelligence, 
energy,  and  worth,  who  by  his  position  and  executive  ability 
did  much  for  his  people.  This  gentleman  advised  him  to  go 
to  New  Bedford,  Massachusetts,  assisted  him  in  reaching  that 
city,  and  introduced  him  to  trustworthy  friends  there.  Here 
he  was  employed,  mostly  as  a  day  laborer  on  the  wharves,  en 
countering  the  same  shameful  and  unmanly  jealousy  of  colored 
competition  that  had  nearly  cost  him  his  life  at  Baltimore, 
and  which  would  not  allow  him  to  work  at  his  trade  as 
calker  by  the  side  of  white  men.  Being  a  professing  Chris 
tian,  he  was  interested  in  religious  meetings,  where  he  was 
accustomed  to  pray  and  exhort,  a  practice  which  probably 
had  something  to  do  with  his  wonderful  subsequent  success 
as  a  public  speaker. 

The  first  demonstration  of  his  eloquence  which  attracted 
public  attention  was  at  a  meeting  mainly  of  colored  people,  in 
which  were  specially  considered  the  claims  of  the  Colonization 
Society.  Here  began  to  be  emitted  specimens  of  that  fiery 
eloquence  from  his  capacious  soul,  burning  with  the  indignant 
and  unfading  memories  of  the  wrongs,  outrages,  and  the  deep 
injustice  which  slavery  had  inflicted  on  him,  and  which  it  was 
now  inflicting  upon  his  brethren  in  bonds.  Of  course,  the  few 
white  Abolitionists  of  New  Bedford  were  not  long  in  finding 
out  the  young  fugitive,  appreciating  his  gifts  and  promise  of 
usefulness,  and  in  devising  ways  of  extending  his  range  of 
effort  for  their  unpopular  cause.  Attending  an  antislavery 
convention  at  Nantucket,  he  was  persuaded  to  address  the 
meeting.  His  speech  here  seems  to  have  been  singularly  elo 
quent  and  effective.  Among  those  present  was  Mr.  Garrison, 
who  bore  his  testimony,  both  then  and  afterward,  to  "  the 
extraordinary  emotion  it  exerted  on  his  own  mind,  and  to  the 
powerful  impression  it  exerted  upon  a  crowded  auditory."  He 
declared,  too,  that  "  Patrick  Henry  had  never  made  a  more 


\ 
504       RISE  AND   FALL  OF  THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

eloquent  speech  in  the  cause  of  liberty  than  the  one  they  had 
just  listened  to  from  the  lips  of  that  hunted  fugitive."  Na 
thaniel  P.  Rogers,  editor  of  the  "  Herald  of  Freedom,"  thus 
characterized  a  speech  made  by  him  the  same  year.  After 
speaking  of  his  "  commanding  figure  and  heroic  port,"  his 
head,  that  "  would  strike  a  phrenologist  amid  a  sea  of  them  in 
Exeter  Hall,"  he  adds  :  "  As  a  speaker  he  has  few  equals.  It 

is  not  declamation,  but  oratory,  power  of  debate He 

has  wit,  argument,  sarcasm,  pathos,  all  that  first-rate  men 
show  in  their  master  efforts." 

This  language,  especially  that  of  Mr.  Garrison,  seems  ex 
travagant,  and  the  laudation  excessive  ;  nor  could  it  be  ac 
cepted  as  a  general  and  critical  estimate  of  Mr.  Douglass  as  an 
orator,  great  as  his  powers  confessedly  were  and  are.  His 
Nantucket  speech  was  unquestionably  one  of  those  rare  bursts 
of  eloquence,  little  less  than  inspiration  itself,  which  are  some 
times  vouchsafed  to  a  man  in  his  happiest  moods  ;  when  the 
speaker  seems  to  rise  above  himself  and  to  take  his  audience 
with  him.  Besides,  there  was  certainly  much  in  the  circum 
stances  and  surroundings  of  that  meeting  to  impress  the 
minds  and  stir  the  sensibilities  of  such  an  assembly.  On  that 
isle  of  the  sea,  at  some  distance  from  the  mainland,  one  could 
easily  imagine  a  picture  of  the  nation  overshadowed  by  the 
dark  cloud  of  slavery,  and  prostrate  beneath  a  despotism 
pressing  alike  on  the  slaves  at  the  South  and  on  their  advo 
cates  at  the  North.  Indeed,  the  latter  had  just  passed 
through  a  baptism  of  fire  and  blood,  during  those  fearful 
years  of  mobs  and  martyrdom,  which  had  measurably  ceased, 
but  had  been  succeeded  by  what  the  earnest  Abolitionist  depre 
cated  more  than  violence,  and  that  was  the  general  apathy 
which  then  reigned. 

In  the  conflict  for  freedom  of  speech  and  the  right  of  free 
discussion  Abolitionists  had  achieved  a  victory.  What  they 
had  contended  for  had,  at  length,  been  conceded ;  at  least,  the 
principle  was  no  longer  contested.  They  had  conquered  a 
peace ;  but  their  opponents  were  determined  it  should  be  the 
peace  of  the  grave.  For  the  wordy  warfare  of  discussion  and 
the  brutal  violence  of  lynch  laws  they  would  substitute  the 


FREDERICK  DOUGLASS.  505 

policy  of  neglect.  To  let  them  severely  alone,  to  belittle  their 
cause,  to  pass  them  by  with  a  supercilious  sneer,  and  to  frown 
contemptuously  upon  their  attempts  to  gain  a  hearing,  became 
at  that  time  the  tactics  of  the  enemies  against  the  advocates 
of  human  rights.  Of  course,  what  were  termed  antislavery 
measures  had  lost  much  of  their  zest  and  potency ;  meetings 
became  less  numerously  attended,  and,  consequently,  less  fre 
quent  ;  organizations,  losing  their  interest  and  effectiveness, 
began  to  die  out.  Something  was  necessary  to  revive  and 
reanimate  the  drooping  spirits  and  the  languid  movements  of 
the  cause  and  its  friends.  It  was  then,  at  this  opportune  mo 
ment,  while  they  were  thus  enveloped  in  the  chill  and  shade 
of  this  most  uncomfortable  and  unsatisfactory  state  of  affairs, 
the  young  fugitive  appeared  upon  the  stage.  He  seemed  like 
a  messenger  from  the  dark  land  of  slavery  itself ;  as  if  in  his 
person  his  race  had  found  a  fitting  advocate  ;  as  if  through 
his  lips  their  long  pent-up  wrongs  and  wishes  had  found  a 
voice.  No  wonder  that  Nantucket  meeting  was  greatly  moved. 
It  would  not  be  strange  if  the  words  of  description  and  com 
ment  of  those  present  and  in  full  sympathy  with  the  youthful 
orator  should  be  somewhat  extravagant. 

The  Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society  at  once  made  over 
tures  to  Mr.  Douglass,  and  he  became  one  of  its  accredited 
agents.  For  this  new  field  of  labor,  which  he  reluctantly  and 
hesitatingly  entered,  and  for  which  he  modestly  said  he  "  had 
no  preparation,"  the  event  proved  that  he  was  admirably  fitted. 
In  addition  to  that  inborn  genius  and  those  natural  gifts  of 
oratory  with  which  he  was  so  generously  endowed,  he  had  the 
long  and  terrible  lessons  which  slavery  had  burned  into  his 
soul.  The  knowledge,  too,  which  he  had  stolen  in  the  house 
of  bondage,  had  enabled  him  to  read  the  "  Liberator  "  from 
week  to  week,  as  he  was  engaged  in  his  hard  and  humble 
labors  on  the  wharves  of  New  Bedford,  and  thus  to  become 
acquainted  with  the  new  thoughts  and  reasonings  of  others. 
Doubtless  many  things  which  had  long  lain  in  his  own  mind 
formless  and  vague  he  found  there  more  clearly  defined  and 
more  logically  expressed  ;  while  the  fierceness  and  force  of 
its 'utterances  tallied  only  too  well  with  the  all-consuming  zeal 

64 


506        RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN   AMERICA. 

of  his  own  soul.  Thus  fitted  and  commissioned  he  entered 
upon  the  great  work  of  his  life.  Though  distrustful  of  his 
abilities,  no  knight-errant  ever  sallied  forth  with  higher  resolve, 
or  bore  himself  with  more  heroic  courage.  With  whatever 
diffidence  he  undertook  the  proposed  service,  there  was  no 
lack  of  earnestness  and  devotion.  Nor  was  his  range  a  lim 
ited  one.  Fitted  by  his  talents  to  move  thousands  on  the 
platform,  he  was  prepared  by  his  early  experience  to  be  equally 
persuasive  in  a  little  meeting  in  a  country  school-house.  In 
hall  or  church  or  grove  he  was  alike  effective.  He  could 
make  himself  at  home  in  the  parlors  of  the  great  or  by  the 
firesides  of  the  humble.  He  could  ride  in  the  public  convey 
ances  from  State  to  State,  or  tramp  on  foot  from  neighbor 
hood  to  neighborhood.  Fertile  in  expedients  and  patient  in 
endeavor,  he  was  not  easily  balked  or  driven  from  his  purpose. 
In  the  midst  of  the  prejudices  of  caste,  hardly  less  strong  and 
cruel  in  Massachusetts  than  in  Maryland,  he  never  permitted 
these,  however  painful,  to  divert  him  from  his  purpose.  If  he 
could  not  ride  inside  the  stage,  he  would  ride  outside  ;  if  he 
could  not  ride  in  the  first-class  car,  he  rode  in  the  second- 
class  ;  if  he  could  not  occupy  the  cabin  of  the  steamer,  he 
went  into  the  steerage  ;  but  to  these  insults  to  his  manhood 
he  generally  interposed  his  earnest  protest,  and  often  only 
yielded  to  superior  force. 

The  character,  culture,  and  eloquence  displayed  by  his  ad 
dresses  provoked  the  insinuation  that  he  was  an  impostor,  and 
that  he  had  never  been  a  slave.  To  silence  this  imputation, 
he  prepared  and  published,  in  the  spring  of  1845,  an  autobiog 
raphy,  which  was  widely  circulated.  As  in  it  he  gave  the 
names  of  persons,  places,  and  dates,  by  which  his  claims  and 
statements  could  be  verified,  it  was  soon  known  in  Maryland, 
and  he  and  his  friends  were  given  to  understand  that  efforts 
would  be  made  for  his  recapture.  To  place  himself  out  of  the 
reach  of  his  pursuers,  and,  at  the  same  time,  help  forward  his 
great  work,  it  was  proposed  that  he  should  visit  England. 
He  was  very  kindly  received  there,  and  visited  nearly  all  the 
large  towns  and  cities  of  the  kingdom.  In  a  lecture  in  Fins- 
bury's  Chapel,  in  London,  to  an  audience  of  three  thousand, 


FREDERICK  DOUGLASS.  507 

he  thus  answered  the  question  why  he  did  not  confine  his 
labors  to  the  United  States. 

"  My  first  answer  is,  because  slavery  is  the  common  enemy 
of  mankind,  and  that  all  mankind  should  be  made  acquainted 
with  its  abominable  character.  My  second  answer  is,  that 
the  slave  is  a  man,  and  as  such  is  entitled  to  your  sympathy  as 
a  man  and  a  brother.  He  has  been  the  prey,  the  common  prey, 
of  Christendom  during  the  last  three  hundred  years  ;  and  it  is 
but  right,  just,  and  proper  that  his  wrongs  should  be  known 
throughout  the  world.  I  have  another  reason  for  bringing  this 
matter  before  the  British  public,  and  it  is  this :  slavery  is  a 
system  of  wrong  so  blinding  to  all  around  it,  so  hardening  to 
the  heart,  so  corrupting  to-  the  morals,  so  deleterious  to  relig 
ion,  so  sapping  to  all  the  principles  of  justice  in  its  immediate 
vicinity,  that  the  community  thus  connected  with  it  lack  the 
moral  power  necessary  to  its  removal.  It  is  a  system  of  such 
gigantic  evil,  so  strong,  so  overwhelming  in  its  power,  that  no 
one  nation  is  equal  to  its  removal.  It  requires  the  humanity 
of  Christianity,  the  morality  of  the  civilized  world,  to  remove 
it.  Hence  I  call  upon  the  people  of  Britain  to  look  at  this 
matter,  and  to  exert  the  influence  I  am  about  to  show  they  pos 
sess  for  the  removal  of  slavery  from  America.  I  can  appeal 
to  them  as  strongly  by  their  regard  for  the  slaveholder  as  by 
their  regard  for  the  slave  to  labor  in  this  cause.  There  is 
nothing  said  here  against  slavery  that  will  not  be  recorded  in 
the  United  States.  I  am  here,  also,  because  the  slaveholders 
do  not  want  me  to  be  here.  I  have  adopted  the  maxim  laid 
down  by  Napoleon,  never  to  occupy  ground  which  the  enemy 
would  like  me  to  occupy.  The  slaveholders  would  much  rather 
have  me,  if  I  will  denounce  slavery,  denounce  it  in  the  North 
ern  States,  where  their  friends  and  supporters  are,  who  will 

stand  by  them  and  mob  me  for  denouncing  it The 

power  I  exert  here  is  something  like  the  power  that  is  ex 
erted  by  the  man  at  the  end  of  the  lever ;  my  influence 
now  is  just  in  proportion  to  my  distance  from  the  United 
States." 

In  the  same  speech,  referring  to  the  barbarous  laws  of  the 
slave  code,  denying  that  he  was  inveighing  against  tho 


508       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

institutions  of  America,  and  asserting  that  his  only  purpose 
was  to  strip  this  anomalous  system  of  all  concealment,  he  said : 
"  To  tear  off  the  mask  from  this  abominable  system ;  to  ex 
pose  it  to  the  light  of  heaven,  ay,  to  the  heat  of  the  sun,  that 
it  may  burn  and  wither  it  out  of  existence,  —  is  my  object  in 
coming  to  this  country.  I  want  the  slaveholder  surrounded  as 
by  a  wall  of  antislavery  fire,  so  that  he  may  see  the  condem 
nation  of  himself  and  his  system  glaring  down  in  letters  of 
light.  I  want  him  to  feel  that  he  has  no  sympathy  in  England, 
Scotland,  or  Ireland ;  that  he  has  none  in  Canada,  none  in 
Mexico,  none  among  the  poor  wild  Indians  ;  that  the  voice  of 
the  civilized,  ay,  the  savage  world  is  against  him.  I  would 
have  condemnation  blaze  down  upon  him  in  every  direction, 
till,  stunned  and  overwhelmed  with  shame  and  confusion, 
he  is  compelled  to  let  go  the  grasp  he  holds  upon  the  persons 
of  his  victims  and  restore  them  to  their  long-lost  rights." 

That,  like  other  prominent  Abolitionists  of  those  days,  he 
overrated  the  power  of  truth,  and  underestimated  the  power 
of  slavery  and  its  tenacity  of  life,  appears  in  the  same  speech, 
and  in  this  connection,  when  he  says :  "  I  expose  slavery  in 
this  country  because  to  expose  it  is  to  kill  it.  Slavery  is  one 
of  those  monsters  of  darkness  to  whom  the  light  of  truth  is 
death.  Expose  slavery,  and  it  dies.  Light  is  to  slavery  what 
the  heat  of  the  sun  is  to  the  root  of  a  tree ;  it  must  die  under 
it."  Mr.  Douglass  had  not  to  live  long  —  his  own  career 
furnishing  the  most  convincing  evidence  of  the  fact  —  to  see 
that  something  more  than  "  light "  was  necessary  to  destroy 
slavery.  To  expose  it  was  not  to  kill  it. 

Of  this,  too,  he  received  substantial  evidence  in  England 
and  Scotland,  especially  the  latter  ;  in  England,  by  the  refusal 
of  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  at  the  instance  of  the  American 
delegation,  to  exclude  the  representatives  of  slaveholding 
churches  from  its  platform  ;  in  Scotland,  where  he  found  the 
Free  Church  not  only  receiving  contributions  for  its  church- 
building  fund  from  such  churches,  but  sturdily  defending  its 
propriety  by  the  voice  of  its  prince  of  scholars  and  clergymen, 
Dr.  Chalmers,  and  by  that  of  its  hardly  less  honored  leaders, 
Dr.  Cunningham  and  Dr.  Candlish.  And  this  latter  was  done 


FREDERICK  DOUGLASS.  509 

in  spite  of  the  earnest  remonstrances  of  himself  and  others, 
among  them  that  most  eloquent  Englishman,  George  Thomp 
son,  urging  them  not  to  receive  that  "  price  of  blood,"  but  to 
"  send  back  the  money." 

Mr.  Douglass  remained  in  Great  Britain  nearly  .two  years ; 
in  which  time  he  visited  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  Wales, 
everywhere  pressing  upon  the  public  mind  the  evils  of  slavery 
and  the  duty  of  laboring  for  its  overthrow.  He  was  cordially 
received,  and  treated  with  the  utmost  consideration.  His 
friends,  without  solicitation  from  him,  raised  one  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds  for  his  manumission,  and  twenty-five  hun 
dred  dollars  with  which  to  establish  a  press  in  this  country, 
which  he  subsequently  did,  at  Rochester,  New  York.  His 
journal  was  first  called  the  "  North  Star,"  and  afterward 
"  Frederick  Douglass's  Paper,"  and  was  ably  conducted  and 
well  sustained  till  after  the  abolition  of  slavery.  Thus  by 
voice,  pen,  and  personal  influence  has  he  contributed  in  no 
small  measure  to  those  manifold  labors  which  the  last  thirty 
years  have  witnessed  for  the  removal  of  slavery,  and  for  the 
rehabilitation  of  his  race  with  those  rights  of  which  it  had  so 
long  been  despoiled,  and  for  the  still  higher  purpose  of  prepar 
ing  it  for  the  new  position  it  now  occupies. 

The  main  interest  and  importance,  however,  of  Mr.  Doug, 
lass's  career,  are  public,  rather  than  personal.  Full  of  thrilling 
adventure,  striking  contrasts,  brilliant  passages,  and  undoubted 
usefulness,  as  his  history  was,  his  providential  relations  to 
some  of  the  most  marked  facts  and  features  of  American  his 
tory  constitute  the  chief  elements  of  that  interest  and  impor 
tance  which  by  common  consent  belong  to  it.  Lifting  the  cur 
tain,  it  revealed  with  startling  vividness  and  effect  the  inner 
experience  and  the  workings  of  slavery,  not  only  upon  its  vic 
tims,  but  upon  all  connected  with  it.  In  it,  as  in  a  mirror,  are 
seen  how  unnatural,  how  inhuman,  and  how  wicked  were  its 
demands.  Torn  from  his  mother's  arms  in  infancy,  he  was 
treated  with  the  same  disregard  of  his  comfort  and  the  prompt 
ings  of  nature  as  were  the  domestic  animals  of  the  farm-yard. 
As  he  was  transferred  from  one  master  to  another,  every  one 
can  see  what  the  hazards  of  a  "  chattel  personal  "  were,  and 


510        RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

how  the  kindness  of  one  only  aggravated  the  harshness  of  an 
other.  In  the  extreme  solicitude  manifested  by  his  kind  mas 
ter  and  mistress  at  Baltimore  that  he  should  not  learn  to  read, 
and  their  marked  displeasure  and  change  of  treatment  when 
he  had  thus  learned,  are  seen  not  only  the  stern  necessities  of 
slavery,  but  how  it  quenched  the  kindlier  feelings  and  turned 
to  bitterness  even  affection  itself.  In  the  terrible  struggle  with 
Corey  which  he  so  graphically  describes,  when  "  the  dark  night 
of  slavery  shut  in  upon  him,"  and  he  was  "  transformed  to  a 
brute,"  is  disclosed  something  of  the  process  by  which  man 
hood  was  dethroned,  and  an  immortal  being  was  transformed 
by  something  more  than  legal  phrase  into  a  chattel,  —  a  thing. 
Had  he,  after  his  first  unsuccessful  attempt  to  escape,  been 
"  sold  South,"  as  he  had  reason  to  apprehend,  and  had  not 
been  sent  north  to  Baltimore,  that  night  would  have  remained 
unbroken,  and  that  transformation  would  have  been  complete ; 
and  the  world  now  knows  what  a  light  would  have  been  ex 
tinguished  and  what  a  sacrifice  would  have  been  made.  He 
escaped,  indeed ;  but  how  many  did  not  ?  Not  all  were  so 
richly  endowed,  though  none  can  tell  how  many  "  village 
Hampdens,"  how  many  "  mute,  inglorious  Miltons  "  have  thus 
been  lost  to  letters  and  to  man;  while  many  have  learned  to 
sympathize  with  Dr.  Campbell,  at  Finsbury's  Chapel,  when  he 
exclaimed  :  "  My  blood  boiled  within  me  when  I  heard  his  ad 
dress  to-night,  and  thought  that  he  had  left  behind  him  three 
millions  of  such  men." 

And  sadder  still  when  it  is  seen  that  all  this  was  done,  if 
not  in  the  name  of  the  Christian  religion,  in  spite  of  it,  by 
those  professing  its  holy  faith,  —  his  owner,  and  tormentor, 
Corey,  both  being  members  of  the  church  ;  the  latter  punctil 
ious  and  pretentious  in  his  church-going,  praying,  and  psalm- 
singing,  adding  the  latter  generally  to  his  daily  family  worship, 
—  and  saddest  of  all,  that, when  Mr.  Douglass,  rescued  as  from 
the  lion's  den,  bore  a  testimony  which  could  not  be  gainsaid, 
the  multitudes,  though  fascinated  by  his  thrilling  story  and 
matchless  eloquence,  withheld  from  him  what  he  earnestly 
sought,  while  only  the  few  were  willing  to  receive  the  un 
popular  doctrines  of  his  Abolitionism.  For  twenty  years  he 


FREDERICK   DOUGLASS.  511 

labored  as  few  others  could,  addressing  thousands  upon  thou 
sands  in  the  New  England,  Middle,  and  Western  States ;  and 
yet  till  the  beginning  of  the  Rebellion  he  belonged  to  a  despised 
minority,  while  the  system  that  had  so  outraged  him  and  his 
people  still  dominated  the  State,  and  was  sanctioned,  if  not 
sanctified,  by  the  Church.  In  the  light  of  such  a  history  this 
mountain  of  national  guilt  assumes  more  towering  propor 
tions,  and  its  base  is  seen  to  rest  not  upon  the  South  alone, 
but  upon  the  whole  land.  The  crime  was  gigantic  ;  and, 
though  its  expiation  has  already  been  terrible,  who  shall  say 
that  it  has  been  commensurate  with  the  crime  itself  ? 

Few  have  forgotten  the  closing  utterances  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
second  Inaugural  concerning  the  war  still  raging,  sounding  as 
if  they  fell  from  the  judgment-seat  and  were  the  words  of 
doom  itself:  "  Yet,  if  God  will  that  it  continue  until  all  the 
wealth  piled  by  the  bondmen's  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of 
unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk,  and  until  every  drop  of  blood 
drawn  by  the  lash  shall  be  paid  by  another  drawn  by  the 
sword,  as  was  said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so  it  still  must 
be  said, i  The  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous 
altogether."'  The  solemn  significance  of  this  language  is 
still  worthy  of  thought,  though  the  war  has  ceased  and  the 
great  armies  then  in  the  field  have  been  recalled. 


CHAPTER    XXXYI. 

THE   FLORIDA  WAR,  —  SLAVERY  ITS   CAUSE. 

The  Surrender  of  Slaves  by  the  Seminoles  demanded.  —  The  Additional  Treaty. 

—  Agreement  to  remove  to  the  "West.  —  Outrages  perpetrated  by  Slave-traders. 

—  Exasperation  of  the  Indians.  —  Stern  Policy  of  President  Jackson.  —  Seizure 
of   Osceola's  Wife.  —  Death  of  the   Indian   Agent.  —  Destruction  of   Major 
Dade's  Command.  —  Conduct  of  the  Citizens  of  Florida.  —  Recall  of  General 
Scott.  —  Action  of  General  Jessup.  —  Treaty  of    Peace  ;    rejected    by  the 
Government.  —  The  Slave-hunters.  —  Admissions  of  General  Jessup.  —  Boun 
ty  offered  to  the  Creeks.  —  Dishonorable  Conduct  of  Army  Officers.  —  Honor 
able  Action  of  the  Cherokee  Delegation.  —  Cruel  Action  of  the  War  Depart 
ment.  —  Violation  of  Flags  of  Truce.  —  Noble  Conduct  of  General  Taylor.  — 
Treaty  with  the  Creeks  and  Seminoles.  —  Danger  of  the  Exiles.  —  Demands 
of  the  Creeks.  —  The  Exiles  emigrate  to  Mexico.  —  The  Faith  and  Honor  of 
the  Nation  tarnished. 

THE  citizens  of  Florida  and  the  adjoining  States  continued 
to  make  demands  upon  the  Seminoles  for  the  surrender  of 
negroes  residing  among  them.  Unscrupulous  adventurers, 
too,  entered  that  territory,  and  in  violation  of  treaty  stipula 
tions,  of  law,  justice,  and  humanity,  sought  to  re-enslave  not 
only  those  who  had  escaped  from  their  masters  since  the  close 
of  the  war,  but  the  exiles  and  their  children.  The  Indians 
were  incensed  by  these  claims  and  this  lawless  violence,  and 
it  became  apparent  that  peace  could  not  be  long  maintained. 

By  treaty  it  had  been  provided  that  several  of  the  Seminole 
chiefs  should  visit  the  reservation  occupied  by  the  Creeks  west 
of  the  Mississippi.  It  was  intended,  if  the  Seminoles  were 
satisfied  with  the  country  and  such  prospective  arrangements 
as  might  be  made,  that  they  should  be  removed  and  become 
an  integral  portion  of  the  Creek  nation.  Whether  or  not  it 
was  the  intention  of  President  Jackson  by  this  arrangement 
to  enable  the  Creeks  to  enslave  the  exiles,  that  would  cer 
tainly  have  been  the  practical  effect  of  this  proposed  removal. 


THE   FLORIDA   WAR,  —  SLAVERY  ITS   CAUSE.  513 

Of  course,  as  that  purpose  became  known,  the  exiles  were 
alarmed  and  the  Seminoles  became  suspicious.  Being  pressed, 
too,  by  the  commissioners,  the  chiefs,  though  unauthorized  by 
their  nation,  entered,  in  1833,  into  what  was  termed  the  "  ad 
ditional  treaty,"  by  which  a  tract  of  land  was  secured  for  the 
use  of  the  Seminoles  forever.  When  the  chiefs  returned  to 
Florida  they  desired  a  meeting  of  the  head  men  of  the  nation 
to  whom  they  might  make  report  of  the  results  of  their  visit. 
But  the  Indian  agent  peremptorily  refused  to  have  such  a 
meeting  called,  and  demanded  that  immediate  preparations 
should  be  made  for  removal. 

The  citizens  of  Florida  also  presented  a  protest  to  the  Presi 
dent  against  allowing  the  Indians  to  remain  longer  in  the  Terri 
tory.  They  alleged  that  the  Seminoles  did  not  recapture  fugi 
tive  slaves  ;  and  that  unless  they  did,  no  slave  property  would 
be  safe.  Although  the  treaty  had  not  been  ratified  by  the  Semi 
noles,  and  it  was  known  that  they  were  nearly  unanimous  in 
their  opposition  to  it,  President  Jackson  indorsed  on  the  back 
of  this  protest  an  order  to  the  Secretary  of  War  "  to  inquire 
into  the  alleged  facts,  and  if  proved  to  be  true,  to  direct  the 
Seminoles  to  prepare  to  remove  West  and  join  the  Creeks." 
In  assuming  this  responsibility  the  President  was  consistent 
with  his  usual  policy  wherever  the  demands  of  slavery  were 
involved.  Notwithstanding  his  traditional  personal  courage 
and  independence  of  character,  he,  either  from  sympathy  with 
the  spirit  and  purposes  of  the  Slave  Power,  or  from  fear  of  its 
displeasure,  ever  showed  himself  forward,  not  to  say  unscru 
pulous,  in  any  service  it  required. 

By  the  treaty  of  Indian  Spring  two  hundred  and  fifty  thou 
sand  dollars  had  been  reserved  to  pay  the  slaveholders  of 
Georgia  for  slaves  lost  prior  to  1812.  These  claims  had  been 
audited,  and  one  hundred  and  nine  thousand  dollars  had  been 
paid,  leaving  one  hundred  and  forty-one  thousand  dollars, 
which  justly  belonged  to  the  Creeks.  These  slave  claimants, 
with  a  grasping  cupidity  which  bespoke  its  origin,  made  a  new 
claim  for  this  unexpended  balance.  Nor  did  an  obsequious 
Congress  refuse  to  allow  the  singular  claim  "  for  the  loss  of 
the  offspring  which  the  exiles  would  have  borne  to  their  mas- 

65 


514       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

ters  had  they  remained  in  bondage."  Having  paid  the  slave 
holders  of  Georgia  this  enormous  sum,  the  Creeks  claimed 
that  the  exiles  became  their  slaves,  and  demanded  of  the  Semi- 
noles  that  they  should  be  surrendered.  While,  on  the  one 
hand,  the  Creeks  were  claiming  the  exiles  as  slaves,  the  Presi 
dent,  on  the  other,  was  requiring  that  the  Seminoles  and 
exiles  should  be  sent  to  the  Indian  reservation  in  the  West, 
where  the  former  would  have  the  power  to  enforce  their 
demands. 

By  the  treaty  of  Camp  Moultrie  certain  Seminole  chiefs, 
having  slaves  with  whom  the  exiles  had  intermarried,  were 
authorized  to  name  certain  persons  who  should  reside  among 
them  and  who  should  be  responsible  for  their  conduct,  while 
the  United  States  were  to  be  responsible  for  the  safety  of  the 
agents  thus  employed.  One  of  these  chiefs  held  about  twenty 
slaves,  and  there  resided  on  his  land  several  exiles  who  had 
never  been  slaves.  Slave-dealers  in  Georgia  desiring  to  get 
both  the  slaves  and  exiles  into  their  possession,  one  of  their 
number  claimed  to  have  purchased  several  of  a  Creek.  This 
claim,  having  been  pronounced  fraudulent  and  void  by  the 
judge  of  the  District  Court,  was  sold  to  other  traders  more 
daring  and  reckless  than  himself.  They  provided  themselves 
with  fetters  and  bloodhounds,  descended  the  river,  and  landed 
on  the  reservation.  Finding  that  the  negroes  were  prepared 
to  defend  themselves  they  retired,  and  with  cowardly  and 
mendacious  effrontery  raised  the  cry  that  the  Indian  chief 
had  armed  his  slaves  and  was  about  to  make  war.  A  mili 
tary  force  was  sent  to  the  reservation  ;  and,  although  the 
chief  had  explained  to  the  officer  that  his  people  had  taken 
arms  only  against  those  who  had  come  to  rob  them  of  their 
liberties,  their  weapons  and  ammunition  were  taken  from 
them.  The  next  day  the  slave-traders  returned,  seized  the 
slaves  and  exiles,  manacled  them,  carried  them  to  Georgia, 
and  sold  them  into  bondage.  The  chief  petitioned  Congress 
for  redress,  but  could  obtain  none  either  for  his  own  or  his 
people's  wrongs.  Power  was  on  the  side  of  the  oppressor, 
and  not  on  that  of  his  victim. 

Another  chief  had  upon  his  plantation  slaves  and  exiles. 


THE   FLORIDA   WAR,  —  SLAVERY   ITS   CAUSE.  515 

The  slave-stealers  came  and  carried  away  both  bond  and  free. 
Knowing  that  a  band  of  slave-stealers  was  watching  his  plan 
tation,  another  chief  armed  his  people,  and  when  the  maraud 
ers  came  they  fired  upon  and  drove  them  away.  He  then 
propounded  to  the  Indian  agent  this  pertinent  inquiry  :  "  Are 
the  free  negroes  and  the  negroes  belonging  to  this  town  to  be 
stolen  in  face  of  law  and  justice,  carried  off,  and  sold  to  fill 
the  pockets  of  those  who  are  worse  than  land  pirates  ?  "  and 
he  demanded  protection  according  to  treaty  stipulations,  but 
none  was  afforded.  The  slave-stealers  returned,  seized  their 
victims,  carried  them  to  Alabama,  and  sold  them  into  per 
petual  slavery. 

These  lawless  deeds  exasperated  the  Indians  and  alarmed 
the  negroes.  If  the  exiles  remained  in  Florida,  they  saw 
that  they  were  to  be  reduced  to  slavery  by  violence  ;  if  they 
removed  to  the  West,  they  feared  that  they  would  be  en 
slaved  by  the  Creeks.  Mr.  Thompson,  Indian  agent ;  General 
Clinch,  who  had  twenty  years  before  commanded  the  troops 
at  the  Port  Blunt  massacre ;  Governor  Eaton,  late  Secretary  of 
War ;  and  other  officials,  —  represented  to  the  government  the 
wrongs  of  these  people  in  Florida,  and  the  probabilities  that 
they  would  be  enslaved  by  the  Creeks  if  sent  to  the  West. 
But  the  administration  was  not  to  be  moved  from  its  purpose. 
General  Cass,  then  Secretary  of  War,  characterized  appeals 
made  in  behalf  of  the  Seminoles  and  negroes  as  "  the  prompt 
ings  of  a  false  philanthropy."  He  persisted  in  the  demand 
that  they  should  go  to  the  West,  join  the  Creeks,  and  subject 
themselves  to  their  authority. 

Intent  on  getting  these  negroes  into  their  possession,  the 
slave-traders  applied  for  admission  to  enter  Florida  for  the 
purpose  of  purchasing  slaves  of  the  Indians.  This  application 
was  referred  to  Mr.  Grundy,  Attorney-General,  who  reported 
that  he  saw  "  no  good  reason  why  the  white  people  should  not 
be  permitted  to  purchase  slaves  of  the  Indians."  President 
Jackson  gave  the  permission  asked  for.  The  Indian  agent, 
knowing  that  the  Indians,  when  in  a  state  of  intoxication, 
would  give  bills  of  sale  ot  negroes  pointed  out  to  them,  whether 
owning  them  or  not,  and  that  the  policy  would  be  most  disas- 


516       KISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

trous,  remonstrated  against  it.  So  great,  indeed,  was  the  indig 
nation  excited  against  this  infamous  order,  that  it  was  soon 
countermanded.  But  these  acts  of  violence,  this  constant 
pressure  upon  them  to  go  to  the  West,  unite  with  the  Creeks, 
and  become  subject  to  their  authority,  alarmed  both  Indians 
and  negroes,  and  they  resolved  to  defend  themselves. 

At  that  time  the  number  of  slaves  held  by  the  Seminoles 
was  estimated  at  two  hundred,  and  the  exiles  and  free  negroes 
at  six  times  that  number.  Many  of  the  latter  had  intermar 
ried  with  the  Indians.  Osceola,  a  young  chief,  had  married 
the  daughter  of  another  chief,  whose  wife  had  been  one  of 
these  exiles.  This  young  chief  with  his  wife  visited  Fort 
King  for  trading  purposes.  While  there  his  wife  was  seized 
as  a  slave  and  carried  off  into  hopeless  bondage.  Frantic  at 
this  cruel  wrong,  Osceola  himself  was  seized,  manacled,  and 
put  in  prison,  where  he  remained  for  six  days.  Vowing  ven 
geance  on  those  who  had  committed  this  outrage,  he  lay  for 
weeks  with  his  followers  near  Fort  King,  keeping  watch  upon 
the  movements  of  the  agent.  Mr.  Thompson  and  Lieutenant 
Smith  were  walking  some  distance  from  the  fort,  when  he 
was  fired  upon  by  Osceola  and  his  party,  and  Thompson  fell, 
pierced  with  fourteen  balls.  The  few  soldiers  at  Fort  King 
were  in  no  condition  to  follow  them,  and  Osceola  hastened  to 
join  his  companions. 

In  November  General  Clinch  ordered  Major  Dade,  then  near 
Tampa  Bay,  to  prepare  for  a  march  to  Fort  King,  about  one 
hundred  and  thirty  miles  distant.  As  his  march  would  be 
through  an  unsettled  forest,  with  swamp  and  lake  and  horn- 
mock,  he  obtained  for  a  guide  Lewis,  slave  of  Antonio  Pacheco, 
who  spoke  and  wrote  with  facility  the  English,  French,  and 
Spanish  languages,  and  also  the  Indian  dialect.  Knowing  the 
persecutions  and  outrages  inflicted  upon  his  race,  he  deter 
mined  to  embrace  this  opportunity  to  avenge  their  wrongs. 
He  communicated  to  the  Indians  and  exiles  the  information 
that  Major  Dade  was  to  go  to  Fort  King,  that  he  was  to  act 
as  guide,  and  that  he  would  conduct  them  near  the  great  Wa- 
hoo  swamp.  Hostilities  had  commenced,  and  the  Indians  and 
exiles  had  gathered  near  the  designated  place.  The  memories 


THE   FLORIDA   WAR,  —  SLAVERY  ITS   CAUSE.  517 

of  past  wrongs  and  the  fear  of  impending  evils  gave  them  a 
purpose  and  courage  to  strike  a  blow  for  safety  and  revenge. 
Entering  the  defile  into  which  he  and  his  hundred  and  ten 
men  had  been  lured,  Major  Dade  was  fired  upon,  and  himself 
and  more  than  half  of  his  command  were  killed  at  the  first 
discharge.  Only  two  soldiers  escaped.  The  murder  of  the 
Indian  agent  and  the  massacre  of  Dade's  command,  both  on 
the  28th  of  December,  1835,  inaugurated  a  war,  which  proved 
to  be  costly  in  both  blood  and  treasure.  But  the  Indians  and 
exiles  had  been  forced  into  it  by  the  sordid  and  all-grasping 
avarice,  the  hatred  and  contempt  of  the  slave-hunters  of 
Florida  and  the  adjacent  States. 

The  people  of  Florida,  assuming  that  the  war  was  fought  in 
their  interest,  attempted  to  interfere  and  to  dictate  the  policy 
and  movements  of  General  Scott.  Refusing  to  yield  to  this 
dictation,  he  was  bitterly  assailed  and  his  removal  was  de 
manded.  Influenced  by  these  feelings,  and  perhaps  by  his 
own  desire  for  power,  General  Jessup  wrote  to  Francis  P. 
Blair,  sharply  criticising  General  Scott's  policy.  This  letter 
was  placed  in  the  hands  of  President  Jackson,  who  imme 
diately  ordered  General  Scott  to  report  at  Washington,  and 
placed  General  Jessup  in  command.  But  that  officer  found 
that  he  had  entered  upon  a  struggle,  to  be  stubbornly  con 
tested,  with  red  men  fighting  for  their  homes  and  black  men 
fighting  for  their  freedom. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1837  a  conference  was  held  with 
some  of  the  Indian  chiefs.  With  a  magnanimity  and  self- 
abnegation  in  strange  contrast  with  the  sordid  and  unfeeling 
policy  of  the  government  and  of  those  whose  cause  it  cham 
pioned,  they  refused  to  enter  into  any  arrangements  that  did 
not  guarantee  to  the  exiles  equal  protection  with  themselves. 
Hostilities  had  then  continued  sixteen  months,  blood  and 
treasure  had  been  lavishly  expended,  and  the  question  of 
giving  the  exiles  equal  protection  with  the  Indians  remained 
the  chief  obstacle  in  the  way  of  peace.  At  length  yielding 
to  the  pressing  exigencies  of  the  situation,  General  Jessup 
agreed,  in  behalf  of  the  United  States,  that  the  Seminoles 
and  their  allies  who  would  emigrate  to  the  West  should  be 


518       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

secured  their  lives,  liberty,  and  property.  Under  tliis  treaty 
the  exiles  secured  that  promise  of  protection  for  which  they  had 
so  bravely  battled.  Abraham,  perhaps  the  ablest  man  among 
them,  entered  upon  the  task  of  persuading  them  to  remove  to 
the  West,  where  they  would  be  free  from  their  persecutors. 
A  region  of  country  ten  miles  square,  near  Tampa  Bay,  was 
marked  out  as  a  place  of  rendezvous  for  the  Indians  and 
negroes  preparatory  to  their  Western  journey.  Even  Osceola 
avowed  his  purpose  to  emigrate.  Twenty-six  vessels  were 
brought  for  their  transportation.  General  Jessup  announced 
that  the  war  was  ended,  dismissed  the  volunteers,  and  asked 
leave  to  retire  from  active  duty. 

But  this  treaty,  though  it  involved  an  enforced  emigration 
of  the  Seminoles  from  their  homes  to  an  untried  country,  and 
that,  too,  against  their  wishes,  contained  too  much  of  justice  and 
humanity  to  be  acceptable  to  the  slaveholders  of  Florida,  Geor 
gia,  and  Alabama.  Accordingly  they  addressed  a  communica 
tion  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  stating  the  fact  that  it  contained 
no  provision  for  indemnity  or  the  restitution  of  negroes,  and 
that  unless  the  Indians  were  compelled  to  perform  the  stipula 
tions  of  the  treaty  of  Camp  Moultrie,  "  owners  may  never  regain 
their  slaves." 

In  pursuance  of  this  same  settled  purpose,  slave-hunters  de 
sired  permission  to  go  among  the  Indians  and  negroes  who 
were  coming  in  preparatory  to  their  emigration  to  the  West,  for 
the  purpose  of  identifying  arid  reclaiming  fugitives.  Their  re 
quest  was  indeed  refused,  but  for  reasons  of  policy  rather  than 
of  principle.  "  Any  interference  with  the  negroes,"  it  was 
said,  "  will  produce  alarm  on  their  part,  and  inevitably  deprive 
us  of  all  the  advantages  we  have  gained."  Writing  to  Colonel 
Warren  of  the  Florida  militia,  General  Jessup  affirmed  that 
while  there  was  no  disposition  among  the  Indians  to  renew 
hostilities,  any  attempt  to  interfere  with  their  negroes  would  be 
followed  by  an  instant  resort  to  arms.  In  a  general  order  of  the 
5th  of  April  he  declared  that  he  had  reason  to  believe  the  inter 
ference  of  unprincipled  white  men  with  "  the  negro  property 
of  the  Seminoles  would  prevent  their  emigration  and  lead  to 
a  renewal  of  the  war." 


THE   FLOKIDA  WAR,  —  SLAVERY   ITS   CAUSE.    •  519 

Pressed  by  the  clamorous  demands  of  the  slave-jobbers,  he 
made  an  arrangement,  not  with  those  with  whom  he  had  ne 
gotiated  the  treaty,  but  with  Co-had-jo,  an  unimportant  chief, 
who  acted  without  authority,  that  the  Indians  should  surrender 
the  negroes  of  whites,  particularly  those  who  were  taken  dur 
ing  the  war.  Though  this  arrangement  had  no  binding  force 
upon  the  Indians,  it  created  the  greatest  alarm,  and  General 
Jessup  was  forced  soon  after  to  admit  that  the  premature  at 
tempts  of  the  citizens  of  Florida  to  obtain  possession  of  slaves 
had  prevented  the  Indians  from  coming  in,  and  also  that  it  had 
caused  many  of  those  who  had  come  in  to  leave  the  'camp.  But 
the  legislature  of  Florida  affirming  the  right  of  the  masters  to 
regain  their  slaves,  and  popular  meetings  resolving  that  the 
recapture  of  their  slaves  constituted  an  object  hardly  less  im 
portant  than  the  peace  of  the  country,  General  Jessup  modi 
fied  his  order,  allowed  citizens  to  enter  a  portion  of  the  Terri 
tory,  and,  though  he  had  repeatedly  stated  that  any  attempt  to 
interfere  with  the  negroes  would  defeat  the  treaty  and  cause  an 
immediate  resort  to  arms,  he  weakly  consented,  and  allowed 
them  to  range  the  country  in  pursuit  of  slaves,  and  to  use  the 
army  in  that  infamous  work.  On  the  25th  of  May  General 
Jessup  wrote  to  Colonel  Harvey :  "  If  you  see  Osceola  again,  I 
wish  you  to  tell  him  that  I  intend  to  send  exploring  parties 
into  any  part  of  the  country  during  the  summer,  and  I  shall 
send  out  and  take  all  the  negroes  that  belong  to  the  white 
people,  and  he  must  not  allow  Indians  and  Indian  negroes  to 
mingle  with  them.  Tell  him  I  am  sending  to  Cuba  for  blood 
hounds  to  trail  them,  and  I  intend  to  hang  every  one  that  don't 
come  in."  Whether  this  message  was  ever  communicated  to 
the  Indian  chieftain  or  not,  the  re-enslavement  of  those  who 
had  taken  refuge  with  the  Seminoles  created  great  alarm. 
Blacks  who  had  come  in  fled,  though  ninety  of  them,  confined 
within  the  pickets  of  Tampa  Bay,  were  immediately,  on  the  2d 
of  June,  sent  to  New  Orleans.  This  act  so  alarmed  the  In 
dians,  who  had  come  in  for  the  purpose  of  emigrating,  that 
they  fled  into  the  interior,  resolved  to  defend  themselves. 
Two  weeks  after  this,  General  Jessup  wrote  to  General  Gads- 
den  that  he  had  captured  ninety  negroes,  the  property  of  citi- 


520        RISE   AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

zens,  and  had  sent  them  to  St.  Mark's  and  St.  Augustine  ;  and 
also  that  he  had  seized  and  sent  off  ninety  Indian  negroes  to 
New  Orleans,  and  held  seventeen  then.  But  his  vigilant  efforts 
in  the  service  of  the  slaveholders  and  slave-catchers  had  de 
feated  his  treaty  of  peace,  and,  in  the  same  letter,  he  wrote, 
«  All  is  lost." 

Hostilities  were  renewed.  The  guilt  and  dishonor  rest  on 
General  Jessup.  At  least  he  was  the  instrument,  though  slav 
ery  was  the  inspiration.  He  had  promised  the  Creeks  the 
"  plunder,"  understood  by  both  parties  to  include  slaves,  they 
might  capture.  He  now  held  out  the  same  kind  of  inducement 
to  the  Florida  militia.  In  a  letter  to  Colonel  Warren  he  prom 
ised  that  the  negroes  of  the  Indians  should  belong  to  the  corps 
that  captured  them.  Field  officers  were  to  have  three  shares, 
company  officers  two  shares,  and  privates  one  share  each. 
Documents  published  by  the  XXVth  Congress  reveal  the  dis 
honorable  fact  that  the  war,  which  had  been  renewed,  was  to 
be  stimulated  by  the  hope  of  sharing  the  profits  or  spoils  of 
forays  into  the  Indian  country,  including  captured  negroes. 
Even  the  Indians  west  of  the  Mississippi  were  thus  appealed 
to,  and  the  same  disgraceful  motives  held  out,  and  some  of  the 
Choctaws  and  Delawares  actually  entered  the  service  of  this 
great  and  magnanimous  Christian  nation,  for  the  purpose  of 
harrying  and  distressing  this  handful  of  Indians  and  negroes, 
with  the  pledge  that  negroes  taken,  instead  of  being  held  as 
prisoners  of  war,  might  be  sold  as  their  reward  or  the  price  of 
their  service.  And  to  make  the  thing  more  disgraceful  still, 
on  their  expressing  some  discontent  at  the  amount  of  pay 
realized,  General  Jessup  sought  to  pacify  them  with  an  addi 
tional  offer,  though  admitting  that  he  had  transcended  his 
authority  and  the  law  in  what  he  had  already  "  stipulated." 
He,  however,  promised  that  he  would  pay  them  "  fifty  dollars 
for  every  negro  "  captured. 

But  the  Cherokees,  instead  of  furnishing  slave-catchers,  sent 
a  delegation  of  twelve  influential  men,  who  bore  to  the  Semi- 
noles  an  address,  written  by  John  Ross,  assuring  them  that  they 
might  confide  in  the  justice  and  honor  of  the  United  States. 
This  assurance  of  the  Cherokee  chief  was  undoubtedly  made 


THE   FLORIDA  WAR,  —  SLAVERY  ITS   CAUSE.  521 

in  good  faith,  though,  in  view  of  the  general  course  and  policy 
of  the  government,  it  sounds  like  the  bitterest  irony.  Indeed, 
Mr.  Ross  himself  soon  had  occasion  to  expostulate  with  the 
officials  for  their  breach  of  faith  towards  those  who,  yielding 
to  his  suggestions,  had  placed  themselves  within  the  power  and 
reach  of  United  States  troops. 

King  Philip,  an  aged  chief,  was  captured  by  General  Her 
nandez  of  the  Florida  militia,  with  eleven  others  of  his  tribe. 
He  sent  a  message  to  Wild  Cat,  his  son,  one  of  the  most  ac 
tive  of  the  Seminole  chiefs,  requesting  a  visit.  As  the  Cher 
okee  delegation  had  laid  before  them  the  assurance  of  John 
Ross  that  they  could  confide  in  the  honor  of  the  general  gov 
ernment,  it  was  determined  that  Wild  Cat  should  visit  his 
father  and  bear  with  him  a  peace  token.  Becoming  thus  a 
messenger  to  his  people,  he  visited  them,  and,  after  the  space 
of  ten  days,  returned  with  the  assurance  that  Osceola  and  about 
a  hundred  Indians  and  as  many  Indian  negroes  were  on  their 
way  to  St.  Augustine  for  the  purpose  of  negotiating  peace.  By 
direction  of  General  Hernandez  they  encamped  a  few  miles 
from  that  place,  keeping  the  white  flag  flying.  The  General 
met  them  at  their  encampment  for  the  purpose  of  escorting 
them  into  St.  Augustine.  But  instead  of  doing  so,  as  the  In 
dians  expected,  he  read  to  Osceola  a  paper  from  General  Jessup 
asking  these  questions  :  "  Are  you  prepared  at  once  to  deliver 
up  the  negroes  taken  from  the  citizens  ?  Why  have  you  not 
surrendered  them  already,  as  promised  by  Co-had-jo  at  Fort 
King  ?  Have  the  chiefs  of  the  nation  acted  in  relation  to  the 
talk  at  Fort  King  ?  " 

The  Indian  chief  exhibited  great  emotion  and  astonishment 
at  these  questions.  Turning  to  Co-had-jo,  he  said :  "  You  must 
answer,  I  am  choked.'*  The  Indians  were  instantly  surround 
ed,  disarmed,  taken  into  St.  Augustine,  and  imprisoned.  The 
negroes  were  sent  to  Tampa  Bay  for  safe  keeping.  Wild  Cat, 
who  had  been  innocently  used  as  an  instrument  for  the  betrayal 
of  Osceola  and  his  friends,  was  also  imprisoned,  though  after 
some  weeks  he  succeeded  in  effecting  his  escape.  A  few  weeks 
after  Micanopy,  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  important  chiefs 
of  the  nation,  through  the  influence  of  the  Cherokee  delegation, 

66 


522       EISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

which  had  come  more  than  a  thousand  miles  on  their  mission 
of  peace,  accompanied  by  a  portion  of  that  delegation,  seventy- 
five  Indians  and  forty  exiles,  bearing  a  flag  of  truce,  came  to 
General  Jessup' s  camp.  A  few  days  after  their  arrival,  they 
too  were  seized,  disarmed,  made  prisoners  of  war,  and  sent  to 
St.  Augustine. 

Readers  of  history  must  go  far  and  peruse  many  volumes 
before  they  can  find  a  parallel  to  these  transactions,  in  which 
the  principles  of  humanity,  honesty,  and  fair  dealing  have 
been  so  completely  ignored  and  trampled  underfoot.  When 
it  is  remembered  that  the  Indian's  only  alleged  fault  in  this 
controversy  was  his  extension  of  the  rites  of  hospitality  to  the 
trembling  fugitive,  and  his  unwillingness  to  rudely  repel  those 
who  sought  that  hospitality  from  his  door ;  that  his  was  the 
pagan  and  his  pursuers  the  professedly  Christian  nation, — 
can  language  be  too  strong  that  justly  characterizes  such  con 
duct  ?  Is  it  possible  to  exaggerate  ?  Does  Carthage  alone  de 
serve  the  unenviable  distinction  involved  in  its  "Punic  faith"? 
No  wonder  that  the  Cherokees  remonstrated  against  this  viola 
tion  of  the  flag  of  truce.  Nor  should  the  wonder  be  less  that 
their  remonstrances  were  without  avail.  The  poor  boon  of 
making  an  explanation  to  the  deceived  Seminoles,  to  assure 
them  that  they  were  not  parties  to  the  cruel  fraud,  though 
at  first  denied  but  finally  permitted,  can  only  be  regarded  as 
an  exception  to  the  usual  course  of  violence,  deception,  and 
wrong.  With  good  reason,  though  a  most  damaging  reflec 
tion  upon  the  government,  the  Cherokees  returned  to  their 
homes,  refusing  to  have  further  communication  with  men  so 
oblivious  of  the  commonest  principles  of  honor  and  fair  deal 
ing. 

The  war  went  on,  and  General  Jessup  continued  to  employ 
the  military  power  of  the  nation  in  seizing  and  returning  fugi 
tives.  While  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  United  States 
army  deemed  the  work  odious  and  degrading,  the  Florida  vol 
unteers  were  adepts.  Early  in  1838  General  Jessup  made 
a  campaign  into  the  country,  and  had  a  skirmish  with  the 
Indians  and  their  allies.  He  erected  a  stockade  which  lie 
called  Fort  Jupiter,  and,  by  the  advice  of  his  officers,  sent  a 


THE  FLORIDA  WAR,  —  SLAVERY   ITS   CAUSE.  523 

proposition  to  the  Indians  to  make  peace  on  condition  that 
they  and  their  allies  should  remain  in  the  southern  portion  of 
the  Territory.  His  messenger,  whom  he  designated  as  a 
"  Seminole  negro,"  returned  accompanied  by  several  Indians, 
who  expressed  a  strong  desire  to  remain  in  the  Territory 
On  the  8th  of  February,  1838,  the  principal  chief  of  that  re 
gion  met  General  Jessup,  by  appointment.  The  latter  agreed 
to  recommend  peace  upon  the  basis  of  allowing  the  negro 
allies  to  remain  and  occupy  a  portion  of  the  southern  part  of 
Florida,  and  permitting  in  the  mean  while  the  Indians  to  oc 
cupy  the  Territory,  near  the  place  of  negotiation,  until  the 
views  of  the  President  could  be  ascertained.  Writing  to  the 
Secretary  of  War,  the  next  day,  General  Jessup  expressed  the 
opinion  that  the  prospect  of  terminating  the  war  by  employ 
ing  an  army  to  explore  the  country  to  remove  a  band  of  sav 
ages  from  one  part  of  the  country  to  another  was  not  very 
flattering ;  that  he  did  not  consider  the  country  south  of  the 
Chick-a-so-hatchie  worth  the  "  medicines  "  they  would  expend 
in  driving  the  Indians  from  it ;  and  that,  unless  the  idea  of 
"  immediate  emigration  "  was  abandoned,  the  war  would  con 
tinue  many  years  at  great  expense. 

But  the  Indians  were  doomed  to  fresh  disappointment.  The 
Secretary  replied  that  removal  was  the  settled  policy  of  the 
government,  and  he  could  not  sanction  any  arrangement  which 
would  assign  any  portion  of  Florida  as  the  future  residence  of 
the  Indians  and  their  allies.  Supposing,  however,  that  the 
proposed  arrangement  would  be  carried  out,  five  hundred  and 
thirteen  Indians  and  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  negroes  had 
assembled  near  the  encampment.  They  had  met  there  to 
negotiate  a  peace  on  the  idea  of  remaining  in  the  country. 
Four  days  after  he  received  the  decision  of  the  Secretary  of 
War  he  directed  the  Indian  chiefs  to  meet  him  in  council. 
They  did  not  do  so,  however,  in  consequence,  as  it  was  be 
lieved,  of  this  decision  having  become  known  to  them.  He  at 
once  ordered  General  Twiggs  to  seize  them  and  hold  them  as 
prisoners.  Fourteen  of  the  negroes  were  represented  to  be 
slaves  of  citizens  of  Florida,  and  were  treated  as  such.  The 
remainder  were  hurried  off  to  Tampa  Bay,  and  there  confined. 


524       RISE   AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

General  Hernandez  captured  several  Indians,  and  restored 
more  than  three  hundred  negroes  to  the  citizens.  How  many 
were  fugitives  and  how  many  were  free  negroes  and  exiles  will 
never  be  known. 

John  Ross  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  War 
demanding  the  release  of  the  prisoners  who  had  come  in  with 
a  flag  of  truce  through  the  influence  of  the  Cherokee  dele 
gation.  The  House  of  Representatives,  on  motion  of  Mr. 
Everett  of  Vermont,  called  for  information  concerning  this 
violation  of  the  flag  of  truce.  The  Secretary  of  War  at 
tempted  to  justify  this  act  of  treachery  by  alleging  that  the 
Indians  had  shown  bad  faith  to  the  United  States.  His 
attempt,  however,  to  transfer  the  charge  from  the  criminal 
to  the  victims  only  committed  the  administration  more  fully 
to  the  disgraceful  policy  pursued  towards  the  Indians,  and 
prompted  Mr.  Everett  to  make  a  most  thorough  exposure  of 
the  outrage  in  an  able  speech,  calling  public  attention  and 
greatly  exciting  the  indignation  of  the  country  at  this  per 
sistent  policy  of  the  government  against  humanity,  justice,  and 
the  most  manifest  claims  of  equity  and  fair  dealing. 

After  General  Taylor,  however,  took  the  command,  there  was 
a  great  improvement.  Discarding  his  predecessor's  policy,  the 
army  was  no  longer  employed  to  chase  down  and  seize  women 
and  children,  to  be  delivered  into  slavery.  He  denied  the 
right  of  any  citizens  to  inspect  those  captured  or  to  meddle 
with  his  prisoners.  He  no  longer  separated  the  Indians  from 
the  negroes,  but  treated  both  as  prisoners  of  war.  Under  his 
more  humane  and  dignified  policy  many  came  in  and  were  sent 
to  their  homes  in  the  West.  In  the  spring  of  1839  General 
McComb  went  to  Florida.  After  consulting  with  the  Indians, 
he  issued  an  order  setting  apart  a  portion  of  this  Territory  for 
their  future  residence  ;  at  the  same  time  forbidding  any  white 
persons  to  enter  upon  it  without  permission.  The  people  of 
Florida,  understanding  that  in  the  war  with  the  Indians  the 
negroes  were  to  be  given  up  to  them,  protested  for  this  reason 
against  the  peace. 

The  war  had  continued  for  nearly  eight  years.  During  that 
time  several  hundred  persons  had  been  seized  and  enslaved, 


THE  FLORIDA  WAR,  —  SLAVERY  ITS   CAUSE.  525 

nearly  forty  million  dollars  had  been  expended,  and  hundreds 
of  lives  had  been  lost.  The  exiles  who  had  been  sent  West, 
fearful  that  they  would  be  reduced  to  slavery  by  the  Creeks, 
remained  in  the  Cherokee  country,  hoping;  that  there  would  be 
assigned  to  them  a  territory,  as  stipulated  in  the  "  additional 
treaty."  Their  expectations  and  disappointments  were  repre 
sented  to  the  general  government,  but  no  action  was  taken. 
The  Cherokees,  too,  were  dissatisfied  at  the  refusal  of  the  gov 
ernment  to  set  apart  territory  for  the  Seminoles  and  exiles. 
But  the  President  adhered  to  his  policy  of  having  the  Semi 
noles  and  their  allies  removed  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Creeks ;  while  the  Creeks  held  firmly  to  their  purpose  to  re- 
enslave  the  exiles  whenever  they  should  come  under  their 
jurisdiction. 

In  1845  a  treaty  was  made  with  the  Creeks  and  Seminoles, 
in  which  it  was  agreed  that  all  contested  cases  between  the 
tribes  in  regard  to  rights  of  property  should  be  subject  to  the 
decision  of  the  President.  The  Creeks  agreed  that  the  Semi 
noles  should  settle  as  a  body  or  separately  in  their  country,  and 
no  discrimination  should  be  made  between  the  two  tribes  ;  and 
the  Seminoles  agreed  to  move  to  the  Creek  reservation.  But 
no  sooner  were  they  settled  on  their  reservation,  than  the 
Creeks  claimed  the  exiles  as  their  slaves.  The  Seminoles  and 
exiles  appealed  to  the  President,  according  to  the  terms  of  the 
treaty,  to  determine  the  question.  The  President  not  making 
a  decision,  the  Creeks  became  impatient  of  delay,  and  threat 
ened  violence  unless  their  demands  were  acceded  to.  The 
exiles,  repairing  to  Fort  Gibson  and  demanding  protection  of 
General  Arbuckle,  its  commander,  were  directed  to  encamp  on 
the  reservation  near  the  fort,  and  were  promised  protection 
there.  The  President,  who  had  supposed  that  the  matter 
would  be  easily  settled  when  the  exiles  were  placed  under 
Creek  jurisdiction,  referred  the  matter  to  General  Jessup. 
That  officer  reported  that  he  had  solemnly  pledged  the  nation's 
faith  that  they  should  not  be  separated,  nor  any  of  them  sold 
to  white  men ;  that  they  were  free  and  under  the  protection 
of  the  United  States,  and  that  this  had  been  promised  them. 
The  matter  was  then  referred  to  the  Attorney-General,  another 


526       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN   AMERICA. 

Virginia  slaveholder.  He  decided  that  the  exiles  were  enti 
tled  to  their  freedom  ;  that  the  President  could  not  interfere ; 
and  that  they  must  return  to  their  towns  in  the  Indian  coun 
try,  where  they  had, a  right  to  remain. 

Informed  of  this  decision  the  exiles  returned  to  their  villages, 
and  for  a  short  time  were  unmolested.  But  a  slave-dealer,  who 
appears  by  documents  in  the  War  Department  to  have  been 
previously  engaged  in  kidnapping,  went  among  the  Creeks  and 
offered  them  one  hundred  dollars  for  any  exile  taken  and  de 
livered  to  him,  he  assuming  all  risks  of  titles.  Two  hundred 
Creeks  assembled,  entered  the  negro  villages,  and  seized  sev 
eral  of  the  exiles.  Those,  however,  having  arms  offering  re 
sistance,  they  retired  with  their  captives,  delivered  them  to  the 
slave-dealer,  and  received  the  stipulated  price.  The  Indian 
agent  obtained  a  warrant  from  the  nearest  judge  in  Arkansas, 
and  the  captured  exiles  were  brought  before  him.  He  urged  in 
their  behalf  the  promises  of  General  Jessup,  the  opinion  of  the 
Attorney-General,  and  the  action  of  the  President,  as  evidence 
that  they  were  free.  But  the  judge  decided  that  the  Creeks 
had  obtained  a  title  to  them  by  their  contract ;  that  their  title 
was  good ;  and,  having  sold  them  to  the  claimant,  his  title 
was  also  good.  By  this  strange  and  wicked  decision  these 
manacled  victims  were  thus  suddenly  and  hopelessly  bereft  of 
freedom,  taken  to  the  New  Orleans  market,  and  sold  into  per 
petual  bondage. 

Alarmed  for  their  safety,  and  losing  all  confidence  in  the 
government  that  had  thus  betrayed  them,  more  than  three 
hundred  of  these  exiles  left  the  United  States  and  went  to 
Mexico,  while  one  or  two  hundred,  connected  with  the  Semi- 
noles  by  marriage,  remained  behind.  Stimulated  by  the  slave- 
dealers  the  Creeks  pursued  them.  Overtaking  them,  a  battle 
was  fought,  and  the  exiles,  under  the  lead  of  Wild  Cat,  drove 
back  the  slave-catching  Creeks,  who  left  their  dead  upon  the 
field.  Directing  their  course  southwesterly  the  exiles  crossed 
the  Rio  Grande  and  settled  on  a  rich  and  productive  soil, 
where,  at  length,  they  found  for  themselves  homes,  which  had 
been  so  cruelly  and  persistently  denied  them  in  the  United 
States.  Was  the  truthfulness  of  Wesley's  characterization  of 


THE  FLORIDA  WAR,  —  SLAVERY  ITS   CAUSE.  527 

slavery  as  "  the  sum  of  all  villanies  "  ever  more  completely  veri 
fied  and  illustrated  than  in  this  sad  and  strange  story  of  the 
conduct  of  the  citizens  and  governments  of  Florida,  Georgia, 
Alabama,  and  the  United  States  towards  these  Indians  and 
exiles  ? 


CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

DEMAND   FOR   THE  RECOGNITION   OP  PROPERTY  IN   SLAVES. 

The  Greed  of  Gain  gratified  by  Slavery.  —  Mr.  Whittlesey's  Report.  —  Debates 
on  the  Question  of  Slave  Property.  —  Spanish  Treaty.  —  The  Florida  Claims. 

—  Mr.  Cooper's  Report.  —  Mr.  Giddings's  and  Mr.  Adams's  Speeches.  —  Pay 
ment  for  Slaves  by  the  British  Government.  —  Mr.  Fillmore's  Bill.  —  Speech 
of  Mr.  Giddings.  — Violent  Scenes  in  the  House.  — Degrading  Influences  of 
Slavery.  —  General  Jessup's  Contract  with  the  Indians.  —  Watson's  Claim.  — 
General  Gaines's  Order.  —  His  Honorable  Conduct.  —  The  Collins  Claim.  — 
Action  of  General  Taylor.  —  Faithless  Action  of  the  Government.  —  Renewal 
of  "Watson's   Claim.  —  Reports   on   the    Claim.  —  Watson's  Claim  allowed. 

—  Claim  of  Pacheco.  —  Failure  of  the  Bill. 

THOUGH  other  elements  entered  into  the  complex  motive 
which  originated  and  sustained  slavery,  that  of  pecuniary  profit 
was  most  general  and  mischievous.  Indeed  it  was  ever  a  pro 
lific  source  of  discord,  as  there  were  ever  arising  conflicting 
claims  in  which  the  principle  of  property  in  man  was  involved. 
And  yet  there  was  a  shrinking,  on  the  part  of  the  majority, 
from  its  open  and  undisguised  avowal.  The  fact  of  slavery 
was  recognized  in  the  Constitution,  and  the  legislation  of  the 
general  government,  but  it  was  as  persons,  and  not  as  property, 
that  slaves  were  referred  to.  Nor  was  "  the  guilty  fantasy  " 
fully  admitted  until  after  many  oft-repeated  and  oft-defeated 
trials. 

Questions  growing  out  of  the  war  of  1812  involving  this 
principle  were  early  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  govern 
ment.  Slaves  taken  by  officers  as  servants,  and  slaves  hired 
in  other  capacities,  were  lost,  and  applications  for  payment 
were  made.  In  all  these  cases  it  was  decided  that  slaves 
should  be  considered  persons,  and  not  property,  and  that  the 
government  was  not  to  be  held  liable  to  pay  for  slaves  lost  in 
the  public  service,  whether  killed  in  battle  or  disabled  and 
destroyed  by  any  other  agency. 


DEMAND  FOR  THE  RECOGNITION  OF  PROPERTY  IN  SLAVES.     529 

In  the  XXth  Congress  an  application  was  made  by  M.  D'Au- 
trieve  of  New  Orleans  to  be  remunerated  for  the  lost  time 
and  hospital  charges  of  his  slave,  Warwick,  who  was  wounded 
in  the  public  service.  The  claim  having  been  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Claims,  Mr.  Whittlesey  of  Ohio  reported  against 
it  on  the  ground  that  the  government  had  never,  in  a  single  in 
stance,  recognized  the  principle  that  slaves  were  property,  or 
paid  for  slaves  lost  in  its  service.  Mr.  Livingston  of  Louisiana 
at  once  denounced  the  report  as  a  "  by  blow  "  to  the  idea  that 
slaves  were  property.  He  appealed  to  the  representatives  who 
were  so  happy  as  not  to  have  that  kind  of  property  not  to  lay 
the  foundation  for  discontent,  jealousy,  and  divisions,  by  insist 
ing  on  such  a  discrimination  against  Southern  interests.  He 
moved  an  amendment  providing  for  the  compensation  asked 
for.  "  Allow  the  claim,"  he  said,  "  and  you  do  no  more  than 
justice ;  reject  it  on  these  principles,  and  you  shake  the 
Union." 

Upon  the  bill  and  amendment  a  debate  continued  several 
weeks,  in  which  some  of  the  ablest  men  of  the  House  partici 
pated.  Much  feeling  was  excited,  and  the  debate  was  char 
acterized  by  a  thorough  examination  of  the  subject.  John 
Randolph  maintained  that  property  was  the  creation  of  law ; 
that  what  "  the  law  makes  property  is  property."  He  repu 
diated  the  doctrine  that  the  Constitution  was  the  protection 
of  slave  property.  It  was  created,  he  contended,  by  State 
laws,  and  the  Southern  States  were  able  to  maintain  it.  He 
expressed  the  hope  that  no  Southern  members  would  deign  to 
debate  the  question  of  property  in  slaves,  or  allow  the  general 
government  under  any  circumstances  to  touch  the  question. 

Mr.  Drayton  of  South  Carolina  maintained  that  the  claim  was 
legitimate,  and  was  justified  by  the  Constitution  and  the  laws. 
He  expressed  the  deepest  abhorrence  of  slavery  in  the  abstract ; 
said  the  African  slave-ship  was  a  spectacle  from  which  all  men 
would  recoil  with  horror  unless  their  hearts  had  been  steeled 
by  the  vilest  love  of  lucre  ;  but  he  thought  slavery  in  the  States 
had  grown  with  their  growth,  and  was  then  irremediable.  "  Our 
consolation,"  he  said,  "  is  that  we  did  not  originate  it ;  when 
a  colony  we  struggled  against  it ;  we  found  it  at  our  birth ;  it 

67 


530       KISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

was  a  part  of  our  inheritance,  from  which  we  can  no  more  de 
liver  ourselves  than  we  can  from  the  miasma  of  our  swamps,  or 
the  rays  of  our  burning  sun.  However  ameliorated  by  compas 
sion,  however  corrected  by  religion,  still  slavery  is  a  bitter 
draught,  and  the  chalice  which  contains  the  noxious  potion  is 
more  frequently  pressed  by  the  lips  of  the  master  than  the 
slave." 

Philip  P.  Barbour  and  Archer  of  Virginia,  Hamilton  and 
McDuffie  of  South  Carolina,  defended  the  claim.  Some  North 
ern  members  also  spoke  in  its  favor.  Mr.  Ingham  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  afterward  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  under  General  Jack 
son,  characterized  the  doctrine  advanced  by  the  committee  as 
fallacious,  and  maintained  that  if  the  government  had  taken 
the  property  it  was  bound  to  give  compensation.  Even  Edward 
Everett  of  Massachusetts  favored  the  claim,  remarking  that  it 
arose  under  the  provision  of  the  Constitution  which  declared 
that  private  property  should  not  be  taken  for  public  uses  with 
out  compensation  ;  and  he  added  that  by  rejecting  the  amend 
ment  (Congress  would  introduce  into  that  instrument  the  quali 
fication,  "  excepting  for  slaves." 

The  claim,  however,  was  strenuously  opposed,  though,  as 
was  common  in  those  days  before  sectional  lines  were  so 
clearly  drawn,  by  varied  lines  of  argument  and  thought.  Thus 
Mr.  Storrs  of  New  York  agreed  with  Mr.  Randolph  that  the 
Constitution  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  question,  as  that 
never  fixed  the  relation  between  master  and  slave.  He  was, 
however,  in  favor  of  rejecting  the  claim,  leaving  the  question 
at  issue  to  be  met  under  the  pressure  of  some  future  and  more 
imperious  necessity.  Tristam  Burgess  of  Rhode  Island  made 
a  characteristic  speech  in  opposition  to  the  claim.  He  said 
the  question  referred  to  the  deterioration  which  had  happened 
to  a  slave  while  in  the  performance  of  ordinary  labor  for  the 
United  States ;  that  no  freeman  ever  made  such  a  claim,  or 
received  such  compensation  ;  and  that  this  would  be  the  begin 
ning  of  a  series  of  claims  which  would  be  pressed  or  withdrawn, 
according  to  the  character  of  the  vote  now  given.  To  remove 
the  jealousies  of  Southern  men  toward  the  North  he  entered 
upon  an  apologetical  explanation  of  the  state  of  feeling  in  the 


DEMAND  FOE  THE  RECOGNITION  OF  PROPERTY  IN  SLAVES.  531 

free  States  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  There  was  a  small  class, 
he  said,  who  were  in  favor  of  immediate  emancipation.  They 
had  unbounded  zeal,  but  were  entirely  without  knowledge  or 
wisdom,  and  could  do  nothing,  as  their  number  was  small, 
their  wisdom  was  small,  and  their  influence  was  still  more  in 
considerable.  Another  class  embraced  philanthropists,  such 
men  as  composed  the  Colonization  Society.  They  looked  to 
the  gradual  removal  of  slavery  from  this  country,  and  the 
gradual  peopling  of  Africa  with  freemen.  Southern  men,  he 
said  unwittingly,  though  truthfully,  had  nothing  to  fear  from 
this  large  and  influential  class  of  genuine  philanthropists. 
There  was  another  class  who  saw  the  superiority  of  free  over 
slave  labor ;  but  Southern  men  would  have  nothing  to  fear  from 
that  class,  as  it  was  composed  of  those  who  would  never  disturb 
the  tenure  by  which  that  kind  of  labor  was  maintained.  He 
opposed  the  claim,  however,  and  sharply  reproved  those  who 
pressed  the  question  and  threatened  that  the  decision  would 
dissolve  the  Union ;  who  declared  that  the  discussion  and  the 
Constitution  would  terminate  together;  and  that  Southern  gen 
tlemen  would  leave  the  hall  in  case  of  an  adverse  decision. 

Mr.  Barnard  of  New  York  opposed  the  amendment  in  a 
speech  of  remarkable  clearness  of  statement  and  force  of  logic. 
Mr.  Miner  of  Pennsylvania  based  his  opposition  mainly  on  the 
ground  of  justice.  "  I  cannot,"  he  said,  "  give  my  sanction  to 
the  principles  that  would  take  the  farmer  and  mechanic  of 
Pennsylvania  to  defend  a  Southern  city  from  an  invading 
enemy,  risking  poverty  and  death  in  your  defence,  and,  if  one 
of  your  slaves  in  the  battle  shall  be  slain,  that  you  may  send 
the  tax-gatherer  to  such  farmer  and  mechanic,  if  he  should 
chance  to  survive,  demanding  aid  from  him  in  payment  for 
such  slaves."  The  amendment  was  adopted  by  a  close  vote, 
the  bill  was  recommitted  to  the  committee,  but  was  not  heard 
of  again. 

A  similar  demand,  involving  the  same  principle,  was  based 
upon  one  of  the  stipulations  in  the  treaty  formed  in  1820  be 
tween  the  governments  of  the  United  States  and  Spain.  By 
that  treaty  it  was  agreed  that  the  inhabitants  of  Florida  should 
be  remunerated  for  Josses  sustained  by  them  in  the  previous 


532       EISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE  SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

military  operations  in  their  Territory  under  General  Jackson. 
The  different  character  of  the  claims  prompted  to  different  re 
sponses.  The  claim  growing  out  of  the  visit  of  the  American 
troops  in  1814  was  mainly  for  one  hundred  slaves  which  camp- 
followers  had  taken  ;  that  of  the  invasion  of  1818  was  for  sup 
plies  taken  from  the  inhabitants  for  the  support  of  the  troops. 
The  last  was  promptly  paid ;  but  the  first,  involving  the  prin 
ciple  of  property  in  man,  Mr.  Crawford,  an  aspirant  for  the 
presidency,  rejected.  The  claimants  then  appealed  to  Con 
gress,  and  their  claim  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Affairs.  Their  appeal  to  the  next  Congress  secured  a  favora 
ble  report  from  the  committee  to  which  it  was  referred,  as  Mr. 
Everett  was  ready  to  pay  a  claim  which  Southern  statesmen 
like  Crawford  and  Archer  had  refused.  But  it  was  rejected 
in  the  House.  The  claim,  thus  twice  defeated  in  the  House, 
was  again  presented  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  Mr. 
Woodbury  paid  several  thousand  dollars,  but  ascertaining  that 
Mr.  Crawford  had  refused  the  demand  he  suspended  further 
payment. 

Repulsed  at  the  Treasury  Department,  these  persistent  claim 
ants  again  approached  Congress.  Their  petition  was  referred 
to  the  Committee  on  Claims.  But  Mr.  Giddings  being  chair 
man,  no  action  was  taken.  Appealing  again  to  the  same  body, 
the  petitioners  were  gratified  by  having  their  demand  referred 
to  the  Committee  on  Territories.  Its  chairman  was  James 
Cooper,  a  native  of  Maryland,  then  a  representative  from 
Pennsylvania,  afterward  senator  and  a  general  in  the  war  of 
the  Rebellion.  Though  informed  by  Mr.  Giddings  of  its  char 
acter,  and  of  the  reasons  which  influenced  his  adverse  decision, 
yet,  belonging  to  that  large  class  of  Northern  statesmen  which 
has  always  seemed  to  have  a  tender  regard  for  slaveholders, 
Mr.  Cooper  reported  in  favor  of  the  claims.  The  bill  coining 
up  for  consideration,  Mr.  Giddings,  who  had  mastered  the 
subject,  made  a  vigorous  speech  in  opposition,  and  so  far  con 
vinced  even  Mr.  Cooper  himself  that  he  refused  to  vote  for  his 
own  report.  Mr.  Adarns,  becoming  deeply  interested  in  the 
question,  and  obtaining  from  the  Treasury  Department  a  list 
of  ninety  negroes,  for  whom  payment  was  demanded,  spoke 


DEMAND  FOE  THE  KECOGNITION  OF  PROPERTY  IN  SLAVES.    533 

strongly  in  opposition  to  the  claims.  Both  he  and  Mr.  Gid- 
dings  dwelt  largely  upon  the  moral  considerations  involved  in 
the  proposition  to  recognize  the  principle  of  property  in  man. 
Their  speeches  made  a  deep  impression,  and  though  the  dele 
gate  from  Florida  spoke  in  defence  of  the  bill,  there  were  but 
thirty-six  ayes  recorded  in  its  favor.  As  an  illustration  of  the 
sentiment  and  feeling  which  pervaded  the  House,  Mr.  Gid- 
dings  states  that  after  the  vote  was  taken,  Mr.  Pickens  of 
South  Carolina  came  across  the  hall  to  the  seat  of  his  col 
league,  Mr.  Campbell,  and  asked  him  why  he  did  not  vote  for 
the  bill.  "  Why  did  not  you  vote  for  it  ?  "  responded  Mr. 
Campbell.  "  Because  I  was  ashamed  to  do  so,"  replied  Mr. 
Pickens.  "  Such  was  my  case,"  said  Mr.  Campbell.  And  yet 
while  these  slaveholders  from  South  Carolina  were  ashamed  to 
support  the  proposition,  the  Democratic  members  from  New 
Hampshire  did  not  hesitate  to  record  their  votes  in  its  favor. 

Near  the  close  of  the  session  of  1841  Mr.  Thompson  of 
South  Carolina  asked  leave  to  introduce  a  bill  appropriating 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  the  benefit  of  the  Seminoles 
and  their  chiefs  who  should  surrender  for  the  purpose  of  emi 
grating  to  the  West.  Mr.  Giddings  states  that  the  object  of 
the  bill  was  the  purchase  of  the  pretended  interest  of  certain 
white  citizens  in  the  exiles  they  claimed  to  own.  Being  better 
informed  than  any  other  member  concerning  the  origin,  cause, 
and  history  of  the  Florida  war,  he  did  not  fail  to  oppose  the 
bill,  laying  bare  at  the  same  time  the  crimes  and  rascalities 
involved  in  a  contest  prosecuted  mainly  for  the  re-enslave 
ment  of  those  and  their  posterity  who  had  sought  in  that  Ter 
ritory  a  refuge  from  the  oppressor.  His  speech  caused  great 
excitement  among  the  Georgia  members,  and  he  was  repeat 
edly  called  to  order.  When  he  closed,  Mr.  Cooper,  of  that 
State,  replied,  denouncing  abolitionism  as  "  a  moral  pesti 
lence,"  and  Mr.  Giddings  and  Mr.  Adams  as  abolition  leaders. 
Black,  also  of  Georgia,  followed  in  a  high  state  of  excitement, 
avowing  his  purpose  to  be  personally  offensive  to  Mr.  Gid 
dings,  and  declaring  if  the  latter  should  go  to  Georgia  he 
"  would  be  hanged."  The  delegate  from  Florida  made  a 
feeble  and  vulgar  assault,  while  Mr.  Thompson  took  occasion 


534       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN   AMERICA. 

to  say  that  the  Whig  party  was  not  responsible  for  the  conduct 
of  "  the  very  obscurest  of  the  obscure  individuals  belonging  to 
that  party." 

To  this  insulting  language  Mr.  Giddings  replied  with  dignified 
and  unruffled  firmness,  denying  the  prerogative  of  the  gentle 
man  to  designate  his  position  in  the  Whig  party,  and  assuring 
Mr.  Thompson  that  he  fully  appreciated  the  insult  intended. 
Though  he  could  not  resent  it  after  the  method  so  common  at 
the  South,  he  would  say,  in  the  language  of  a  military  veteran 
to  a  young  officer  who  spat  in  his  face,  expecting  to  draw  from 
him  a  challenge, "  Could  I  as  easily  wipe  the  stain  of  your 
blood  from  my  soul,  you  should  not  live  an  hour."  Mr.  Alford, 
springing  from  his  seat  with  profane  and  menacing  language, 
rushed  towards  him,  but  was  met  by  Mr.  Briggs  of  Massa 
chusetts  and  persuaded  to  return  to  his  seat.  Mr.  Thompson 
again  assured  the  House  that  he  spoke  the  feelings  of  both 
Northern  and  Southern  Whigs,  when  he  assured  the  member 
from  Ohio  that  he  was  considered  "  the  very  obscurest  of  the 
obscure  members  of  the  Whig  party." 

Mr.  Giddings  states  that  General  Harrison,  soon  to  be  inau 
gurated,  arriving  in  Washington  on  the  day  the  debate  occurred, 
expressed  great  dissatisfaction  at  its  occurrence,  and  avowed 
his  purpose  to  relieve  the  Whig  party  from  any  odium  brought 
upon  it  by  the  course  of  Mr.  Giddings.  The  next  day  Mr. 
Giddings  called  upon  him,  but  the  President  elect  gave  him 
such  unmistakable  indications  of  his  displeasure,  that  he  never 
called  upon  him  again.  Mr.  Giddings  was  from  the  same 
State,  had  served  with  him  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  had  toiled 
for  his  election ;  but,  true  to  his  convictions,  he  maintained 
the  freedom  of  debate,  and  exposed  the  crimes  of  the  Flor 
ida  war.  Mr.  Thompson  was  from  a  State  that  had  given 
General  Harrison  no  vote,  and  had  insulted  an  honest  and 
God-fearing  man,  because  of  his  stalwart  defence  of  right  and 
outraged  humanity.  The  former  was  rewarded  by  a  Northern 
President  with  the  mission  to  Mexico,  the  latter  with  coldness 
and  manifest  tokens  of  his  displeasure.  But  Mr.  Thompson, 
though  the  recipient  of  executive  favor,  is  forgotten,  or  scarcely 
remembered  ;  while  Mr.  Giddings,  whom  he  insolently  charao' 


DEMAND  FOR  THE  RECOGNITION  OF  PROPERTY  IN  SLAVES.   535 

terized  as  "  the  very  obscurest  of  the  obscure  individuals  be 
longing  to  the  Whig  party,"  left  a  national  reputation  which 
his  countrymen  cherish  with  increasing  regard,  a  name  which 
they  "  will  not  willingly  let  die." 

The  British  government  had  agreed  to  pay  the  sum  of 
seventy-five  thousand  dollars  for  slaves  on  board  the  "  Hornet " 
and  "  Encomium,"  which  had  been  wrecked  in  its  possessions 
in  the  West  India  waters  before  its  act  of  emancipation.  The 
President,  distributing  this  appropriation  to  its  claimants 
without  consulting  Congress,  paid  on  his  retirement  four  thou 
sand  dollars  which  had  not  been  called  for  into  the  treasury. 
Slave-dealers,  claiming  this  balance  which  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  refused  to  pay  without  authority  of  Congress,  at 
once  applied  to  that  body.  The  claim  was  referred  to  the 
Committee  of  Ways  and  Means.  A  bill  was  reported  by  unan 
imous  consent  of  the  committee  to  pay  the  money  to  the  owners 
of  the  slaves.  The  ever-watchful  Giddings  went  to  Mr.  Stanley 
of  North  Carolina,  who  had  charge  of  the  bill,  explained  to 
him  its  character,  and  proposed  that  the  Treasurer  should  be 
authorized  to  replace  the  money,  which  he  held  without  author 
ity  of  law,  into  the  hands  of  the  President,  who  would  doubt 
less  pay  it  over  to  the  claimants,  and  Congress  would  be 
relieved  of  the  odium  of  the  transaction.  Mr.  Stanley  agreed 
to  accept  the  proposition  as  a  substitute  for  the  original  bill. 
The  amendment  was  accepted  by  the  House,  but  rejected  by 
the  Senate.  Mr.  Giddings  states  that  when  it  came  up  in  the 
House  for  concurrence,  he  asked  Mr.  Stanley  for  an  explana 
tion  of  that  violation  of  good  faith,  but  received  none  ;  that 
he  then  expressed  a  desire  to  speak  upon  the  measure,  to 
which  Mr.  Stanley  apparently  consented ;  but  when  it  came  up, 
the  latter  moved  the  previous  question,  and  the  bill  was  passed. 

Mr.  Giddings  then,  obtaining  the  floor,  moved  a  reconsidera 
tion  of  the  vote.  Indignant  at  the  treatment  he  had  received, 
he  denounced  both  it  and  the  measure.  Alluding  to  the  fact 
that  it  was  designed  to  pay  the  slaveholding  constituents  of 
Mr.  Stanley  for  losses  they  had  incurred  in  their  vocation,  he 
thanked  God  that  he  did  not  hold  his  seat  by  the  votes  of 
"  piratical  slave-dealers."  He  entered,  too,  his  earnest  pro- 


536       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

test  against  the  policy  of  making  the  Whig  party  incur  the 
odium  of  thus  sustaining  a  commerce  in  human  flesh.  He 
showed  how  Presidents  Jackson  and  Van  Buren  had  conde 
scended  to  become  the  solicitors  and  agents  of  slave-dealers ; 
how  they  obtained  payment  from  England  by  falsely  represent 
ing,  through  Mr.  Stevenson,  that  Congress  "  regarded  slaves 
as  property,  and  paid  for  them  as  such  when  lost  in  the  public 
service  in  time  of  war."  He  said  the  representation  was 
"untrue,"  and  affirmed  that  the  records  would  show  that  when 
that  question  had  been  raised  in  Congress  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  had  "  repudiated  "  the  doctrine.  He  charged  Mr. 
Stevenson,  who  was  Speaker  of  the  House  in  1828,  when  that 
doctrine  was  thus  repudiated,  with  uttering  an  "  unmitigated 
falsehood." 

Mr.  Giddings  challenged  the  representatives  from  Virginia  in 
Congress  to  show  one  instance  in  which  the  House  had  decided 
that  slaves  were  "  property,"  or  had  voted  to  pay  for  them  as 
such.  The  assertion,  he  said,  was  "  a  libel  upon  Congress  and 
upon  the  people  of  the  nation,"  and  he  protested  that  he  denied 
the  doctrine  and  would  not  be  a  party  to  the  falsehood.  He  said 
he  felt  humbled  and  deeply  humiliated,  on  looking  around  him, 
to  see  two  hundred  and  thirty  American  statesmen  sitting  in 
that  hall  and  gravely  legislating  in  behalf  of  piratical  slave- 
dealers,  whose  crimes  had  rendered  them  moral  outlaws,  unfit 
for  human  association,  and  fitted  only  for  the  gallows.  He 
showed  with  great  force  of  logic  that  Congress  had  neither 
moral  nor  constitutional  right  to  involve  the  people  of  the  free 
States  in  a  war  for  the  defence  of  the  slave-trade.  H^  sharply 
criticised,  too,  both  the  President  and  the  Senate  for  their  action 
in  committing  the  nation  to  the  support  of  the  domestic  slave- 
trade,  and  of  the  "  heathenish  "  doctrine  of  property  in  man. 

Neither  Mr.  Fillmore  who  reported  nor  Mr.  Stanley  who  had 
charge  of  the  bill  attempted  any  vindication  of  the  principles 
involved  in  it.  Caleb  Cushing,  who  had  become  a  champion 
of  Mr.  Tyler's  administration,  contended  that,  the  money  being 
in  the  treasury  of  the  United  States,  Congress  became  trustee 
for  its  distribution.  It  was  therefore  bound  to  make  the  dis 
tribution  without  regard  to  the  circumstances  under  which  it 


DEMAND  FOB  THE  RECOGNITION  OF  PROPERTY  IN  SLAVES.     537 

came  into  its  custody.  The  motion  for  reconsideration  failed 
by  a  large  majority. 

Mr.  Giddings  then  rose  to  a  privileged  question.  He  stated 
that  while  he  was  addressing  the  House  he  noticed  several  per 
sons  standing  in  front  of  the  clerk's  desk,  one  of  whom  was 
Mr.  Dawson  of  Louisiana ;  that  when  he  had  concluded  his 
speech  he  was  pushed  by  what  appeared  to  be  the  elbow  of  a 
person,  and  at  the  same  moment  Mr.  Dawson  passed  him  on 
his  way  to  the  clerk's  desk ;  that  he  addressed  him  in  an 
undertone,  when  he  turned  round,  seized  the  handle  of  a 
bowie-knife,  which  partly  protruded  from  his  bosom,  and  ad 
vanced  towards  him  till  within  striking  distance.  Look 
ing  him  in  the  eye,  he  inquired  whether  he  pushed  him  in 
that  rude  manner.  "  Yes,"  he  answered.  "  For  the  pur 
pose,"  inquired  Mr.  Giddings,  "  of  insulting  me  ?  "  "  Yes," 
he  replied,  partially  removing  his  knife  from  its  sheath. 
Mr.  Giddings  then  said :  "  No  gentleman  will  wantonly  in 
sult  another.  I  have  no  more  to  say  to  you,  but  turn  you 
over  to  public  contempt  as  incapable  of  insulting  another." 
Dawson  was  then  seized  by  one  of  his  colleagues  and  taken 
from  the  hall.  In  laying  these  facts  before  the  House,  Mr. 
Giddings  wished  it  to  be  distinctly  understood  that  he  did  not 
claim  the  protection  of  the  House,  but  left  that  body  to  protect 
its  own  dignity. 

Alexander  H.  H.  Stuart,  a  Whig  member  from  Yirginia, 
afterward  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  then  stated  that  he  had 
noticed  Mr.  Dawson  standing  in  front  of  the  clerk's  desk ; 
that,  from  his  appearance,  he  apprehended  an  intention  of  vio 
lence,  but  lost  sight  of  him  until  he  appeared  in  the  aisle  where 
Mr.  Giddings  was  standing.  Mr.  Wise  expressed  the  opinion 
that  the  member  had  intended  no  insult  to  Mr.  Giddings.  Mr. 
Adams  rose  and,  in  allusion  to  an  incident  that  occurred  a  few 
days  before  when  the  same  individual,  offended  at  some  remarks 
made  by  Mr.  Arnold  of  Tennessee,  went  to  his  seat  and  assured 
him  that  if  he  did  not  keep  quiet  he  would  "  cut  his  throat  from 
ear  to  ear,"  inquired  whether  he  had  made  the  same  threat  to 
Mr.  Giddings  he  had  to  the  gentleman  from  Tennessee.  It  was 
believed  that,  acting  with  the  approbation  of  others,  Dawson 

68 


538        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

intended  to  insult  Mr.  Giddings  and  thus  draw  from  him  a 
blow,  which  would  have  been  an  excuse  for  an  assault  with  a 
deadly  weapon.  In  a  letter,  written  on  the  same  day  this 
scene  occurred,  David  Lee  Child  wrote:  "I  was  sitting  in  the 
gallery.  I  saw  Dawson  in  the  centre  of  the  hall,  amidst  a 
crowd  of  Southern  members,  all  of  whom  were  looking  ex 
tremely  wrathful,  and  one  of  them,  as  I  am  informed  by  a 
member,  said  with  an  oath,  '  I  would  like  to  cut  off  Gid- 
dings's  ears.' " 

This  disgraceful  and  instructive  incident  had  a  threefold 
significance.  It  was  an  illustration  of  the  tone  and  temper  of 
that  slaveholding  regime  which  controlled  the  land  for  more 
than  half  a  century.  It  revealed  the  craven  spirit  of  the  North, 
which,  though  largely  in  the  majority,  submitted  to  such  dicta 
tion,  pocketed  such  insults,  and  gave  to  the  villanous  cause  itself 
that  municipal  support  and  power  without  which  it  could  not 
have  maintained  itself  a  single  day.  It  revealed,  too,  the  hero 
ism  and  martyr  spirit  demanded  in  the  few  who  dared  to  con 
front  these  violent  men  and  meet  the  dangers  thus  incurred. 
Still  such  scenes  were  not  without  their  influence  at  the  North, 
nor  could  they  fail  to  impress  upon  many  there  some  idea  of 
the  degrading  and  dangerous  presence  of  a  system  that  gener 
ated  such  a  spirit  and  prompted  to  such  deeds. 

In  1845  the  subject  of  property  in  man  was  again  forced 
upon  public  attention  by  appeals  made  to  the  XXVIIIth  Con 
gress  for  its  practical  recognition.  The  way  in  which  this  was 
sought,  with  its  antecedents,  was  still  more  degrading,  the 
necessary  recital  of  which  may  well  make  any  American  ear 
tingle  with  shame,  as  thus  reminded  of  the  base  uses  to  which 
the  government  lent  itself  in  its  ignoble  service  to  the  slave- 
mongers. 

On  assuming  the  command  of  the  army  in  Florida  in  1836, 
General  Jessup,  without  authority  of  law,  entered  into  a  con 
tract  with  the  Creeks  by  which  they  were  to  receive  such 
plunder  as  they  might  capture ;  and  this  unauthorized  contract 
was  approved  by  the  President  and  Secretary  of  War.  Among 
this  "  plunder  "  were  one  hundred  negroes  which  they  claimed 
as  coming  within  the  meaning  of  the  contract.  This  under- 


DEMAND  FOR  THE  RECOGNITION  OF  PROPERTY  IN  &LA\^.  539 

standing  was  approved  by  the  President  and  his  Secretary 
of  War,  and  this  Christian  republic  stood  before  the  world  as 
recognizing  the  principle  that  prisoners  of  war  might  be  held 
as  slaves. 

Complicating  matters  still  more,  he  gave  orders  that  eight 
thousand  dollars  should  be  paid  for  these  negroes,  and  that 
they  be  sent  to  Fort  Pike  and  held  as  the  property  of  the 
United  States.  And  even  this  order  was  approved  by  the  Presi 
dent,  and,  so  far  as  his  authority  could  effect  it,  the  nation  be 
came  the  purchaser  of  slaves.  The  Commissioner  of  Indian 
Affairs,  however,  suggested  to  the  Secretary  of  War  a  doubt  as 
to  the  willingness  of  Congress,  in  the  then  state  of  the  public 
mind,  to  appropriate  the  funds  to  carry  into  effect  General 
Jessup's  order.  For  thirteen  months  this  question  remained 
unsettled,  and  it  was  finally  determined  to  abrogate  General 
Jessup's  order,  though  it  had  been  approved,  and  to  declare 
that  the  Creek  Indians  were  the  owners  of  the  negroes  sent  to 
Fort  Pike. 

In  this  exigency  it  was  suggested,  he  says,  by  government 
officials,  to  James  C.  Watson,  a  Georgia  slaveholder,  to  pur 
chase  these  negroes,  pay  for  them  the  sum  of  fifteen  thousand 
dollars,  and  receive  a  bill  of  sale,  on  the  condition  that  the 
Secretary  of  War  should  issue  an  order  to  the  officers  of  the 
army  to  deliver  them  to  him  or  to  his  agent.  This  sale  was 
effected  on  the  7th  of  May,  1838.  While  the  government 
officials  were  the  active  parties  in  the  negotiation,  the  sale  was 
effected  in  the  name  of  the  Creeks.  One  Collins,  brother-in- 
law  of  Watson,  was  appointed  an  agent,  and  furnished  with 
written  instructions  by  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  to 
repair  to  New  Orleans  and  receive  the  negroes. 

But  a  few  days  before  these  slaves  had  been  purchased  by 
Watson,  General  Gaines  had  issued  an  order  directing  Major 
Clark  to  make  arrangements  for  the  embarkation  of  the  Semi- 
noles  and  "  black  prisoners  of  war,"  then  in  Louisiana,  for  their 
place  of  destination  in  the  Indian  country.  At  the  same  time, 
as  if  to  make  the  whole  transaction  more  complicated,  the 
claim  of  a  slave-dealer  was  allowed  by  the  Louisiana  courts  to 
sixty  of  these  negro  prisoners.  Having  secured  a  favorable 


540       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

decision  of  the  court,  he  demanded  them  of  General  Gaines. 
But  that  officer,  to  his  great  credit,  refused  assent,  and  ordered 
that  they  should  be  confined  in  the  barracks  for  their  safe  keep 
ing.  He  also  resisted  the  requisition  of  the  sheriff  of  New 
Orleans,  on  the  ground  that  they  were  prisoners  of  war.  Famil 
iar  with  both  the  facts  and  the  law  of  the  case ;  knowing,  too, 
that  the  most  intimate  domestic  and  social  relations,  from  in 
termarriage  and  the  ties  of  friendship,  existed  between  them, 
he  was  willing  to  assume  the  personal  responsibility  of  the 
costs,  to  appear  before  the  courts,  and  to  plead  the  laws  of  na 
tions  and  of  war  in  vindication  of  the  position  that  these 
negroes  were,  and  should  be  treated  as,  prisoners  of  war. 
He  assured  the  court  that  they  were  not  captured  from  the 
white  people  in  that  or  any  previous  war.  Professing  to  act 
from  his  convictions,  he  said  :  "  I  have  not  learned,  while  act 
ing  in  my  official  capacity  on  oath,  to  take  the  responsibility 
of  doing  what  is  repugnant  to  law,  unjust,  and  iniquitous,  as,  I 
verily  believe,  any  favor  shown  to  this  claim  would  be."  The 
judge,  however,  assuming,  under  the  laws  of  Louisiana,  that 
negroes  were  slaves  to  some  one,  discharged  the  rule,  and 
affirmed  the  order  of  sequestration. 

Lieutenant  Reynolds,  leaving  thirty-one  of  the  negroes  be 
hind,  embarked  with  the  Seminoles  and  negro  prisoners  of  war 
for  the  Indian  country.  But  the  next  day  Watson's  agent 
arrived,  and,  finding  that  Reynolds  had  started,  immediately 
followed  and  overtook  him  at  Vicksburg.  Convinced  by  the 
evidences  of  sorrow  and  mutual  interest  and  attachment  exhib 
ited  between  the  Indians  and  negroes  at  parting  at  New  Or 
leans  that  he  must  proceed  with  caution,  Lieutenant  Reynolds 
persuaded  the  agent  to  accompany  him.  Arriving  at  Little 
Rock,  he  called  upon  the  government  officials  for  assistance. 
Governor  Roane,  though  a  slaveholder,  declared  that  there 
were  no  witnesses  to  identify  the  negroes,  expressed  the  appre 
hension  that  to  enforce  the  claim  would  endanger  the  frontier 
settlers  of  Arkansas,  and,  instead  of  rendering  assistance, 
urged  him  to  proceed  at  once  to  his  point  of  destination. 
Arriving  at  Fort  Gibson,  Lieutenant  Reynolds  enclosed  to 
General  Arbuckle  the  order  of  the  Indian  Commissioner  to  sur- 


DEMAND  FOR  THE  RECOGNITION  OF  PROPERTY  IN  SLAVES.     541 

render  the  negroes  to  Watson's  agent,  with  the  request  that 
he  would  give  him  an  adequate  force  to  carry  his  instructions 
into  effect.  The  request  was  refused,  however,  on  the  ground 
that  there  was  no  evidence  to  indicate  who  were  included  in 
the  claim. 

But  the  War  Department,  having  been  a  party  to  the  sale  of 
these  "  prisoners  of  war,"  sought  to  carry  out  that  slave-deal 
ing  bargain  so  far  as  the  thirty-one  negroes  remaining  at  New 
Orleans  were  concerned.  General  Taylor's  co-operation  was 
sought  in  a  letter  from  the  Adjutant-General.  But  that  hon 
est  and  straightforward  man  would  be  party  to  no  such  arrange 
ment.  In  his  letter  of  reply  he  said :  "  I  know  nothing  of  the 
negroes  in  question,  nor  of  the  subject  further  than  what  is 
contained  in  the  communication  ;  but  I  must  state  distinctly 
for  the  information  of  all  concerned,  that,  while  I  shall  hold 
myself  ever  ready  to  do  the  utmost  in  my  power  to  get  the 
negroes  and  Indians  out  of  Florida,  as  well  as  to  remove  them 
to  their  new  homes  west  of  the  Mississippi,  I  cannot,  for  a 
moment,  consent  to  meddle  with  this  transaction,  or  to  be 
concerned  for  the  benefit  of  Collins,  the  Creek  Indians,  or  any 
one  else."  This  noble  letter  no  more  inured  to  the  credit  of 
its  writer  than  it  reflected  upon  the  action  of  General  Jessup, 
of  the  War  Department,  and  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States. 

Collins  returned  to  New  Orleans,  but  Major  Clark  refused 
to  turn  the  negroes  over  to  him  as  Watson's  agent.  They 
were  at  once  despatched  to  their  Western  home,  but  only  to 
find  new  proof  of  the  bad  faith  of  the  government.  Though 
it  had  been  stipulated  with  them,  as  an  inducement  for  them 
to  go  west,  that  a  separate  tract  should  be  assigned  them, 
they  found  on  their  arrival  that  they  were  to  be  taken  to  terri 
tory  assigned  to  the  Creeks,  where  they  would  be  subjected  to 
Creek  laws.  The  Cherokees  had  used  their  influence  to  per 
suade  the  Seminoles  to  go  west,  and  they  felt  that  they  were 
in  honor  bound  to  fulfil  their  pledges  as  far  as  in  their  power, 
and  so  they  consented  that  they  should  remain  on  their  reserva 
tion  until  the  United  States  government  could  be  persuaded  to 
discharge  its  obligations  to  this  abused  and  scattered  people. 


542        RISE   AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

Without  country,  the  victims  of  grasping  slaveholders,  these 
Indians  and  exiles  appealed  for  redress  to  the  same  govern 
ment  which  had  already  proved  so  faithless  to  its  promises. 
But  President  Van  Buren  and  Mr.  Poinsett,  his  Secretary  of 
War,  instead  of  regarding  these  appeals,  were  renewing  their 
efforts  to  secure  for  Watson  the  negro  prisoners  of  war  he  had 
purchased.  General  Arbuckle,  who  had  been  directed  to  in 
vestigate  the  case,  replied  that  not  one  of  them  could  be 
obtained  without  force.  Of  course  the  slave-dealer  grew  res 
tive  and  impatient  under  these  delays,  and  wrote  to  the  Indian 
Commissioner,  severely  arraigning  the  military  authorities. 
Lieutenant  Reynolds  was  under  the  necessity,  therefore,  of 
explaining,  away  these  charges.  The  demands  being  still 
pressed,  the  government  made  further  but  ineffectual  attempts 
to  meet  them.  The  Seminoles  refused  to  surrender  the  exiles, 
and  the  Creeks  would  hold  no  further  communication  on  the 
subject  either  with  Watson  or  the  officials. 

Baffled  in  all  these  efforts,  he  turned  his  attention  to  Con 
gress,  petitioning  that  body  for  what  he  failed  to  obtain  from 
the  executive  officers  of  the  government ;  and  at  the  com 
mencement  of  the  session  in  1839  the  petition  was  referred 
to  the  Committee  on  Claims.  Mr.  Dawson  of  Georgia  called 
to  it  the  attention  of  Mr.  Giddings,  its  chairman  ;  but  he 
reported  against  it.  At  the  next  session  it  was  referred  to 
the  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs.  A  bill  was  reported ;  but 
it  failed  to  become  a  law.  In  the  XXVIIIth  Congress  ex- 
Governor  Vance  of  Ohio  was  made  chairman  of  the  Commit 
tee  on  Claims,  in  place  of  Mr.  Giddings,  who  had  thus  far  pre 
vented  favorable  action,  and  Mr.  Howell  Cobb  was  placed  on 
the  committee  for  the  purpose  of  securing  a  favorable  report. 
Such  a  report  and  bill  being  presented,  it  was  advocated  by 
Mr.  Cobb,  Mr.  Stephens,  and  Mr.  Belser  of  Alabama,  each 
alleging  that  it  did  not  involve  the  question  of  property  in 
human  flesh  ;  opposed  by  Mr.  Giddings  and  Mr.  Adams ;  and 
no  vote  was  reached.  Not  discouraged,  Watson  persisted  in 
pressing  his  claim ;  though  he  was  again  defeated,  in  1848, 
notwithstanding  a  favorable  report  from  Mr.  Daniel  of  North 
Carolina. 


DEMAND  FOR  THE  RECOGNITION  OF  PROPERTY  IN  SLAVES.  543 

In  February,  1852,  Daniel  reported  again  in  its  favor.  A 
long  debate  arose,  in  which  several  members  took  part,  a 
favorable  vote  was  reached,  and  the  bill  passed  by  a  major 
ity  of  twenty-six,  one  member  alone  from  the  slave  States, 
William  R.  Cobb  of  Alabama,  voting  against  it.  In  the  Sen 
ate  it  met  but  little  opposition.  Thus  was  consummated,  after 
a  delay  and  struggle  of  thirteen  years,  that  infamous  bargain 
between  a  slave  speculator  and  the  United  States,  by  which 
prisoners  of  war  were  sold  as  slaves,  and  in  which  were  ig 
nored  not  only  the  laws  of  God  and  humanity,  but  the  laws 
of  the  nation  and  the  laws  of  war. 

Another  case  involving  this  idea  of  property  in  man  was 
that  of  Antonio  Pacheco,  who  presented  in  1848  a  petition  to 
Congress  for  the  loss  of  the  slave  Lewis,  whom  he  had  let  to 
Major  Dade  as  a  guide,  who  had  been  captured  by  the  Indians, 
surrendered  to  General  Jessup,  and  sent  west  of  the  Missis 
sippi.  It  appeared  from  the  testimony  of  General  Jessup  that 
Lewis  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  talents,  who  had  kept  up  a 
correspondence  with  the  Seminoles,  and  had  been  sent  west 
as  "  a  dangerous  man."  The  petition  was  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Military  Affairs,  Mr.  Burt  of  South  Carolina 
being  chairman ;  and  a  bill  was  reported  in  accordance  with 
the  prayer  of  the  petitioner.  Mr.  Dickey  of  Pennsylvania, 
assisted  by  Mr.  Giddings,  drew  up  an  adverse  report.  At 
the  meeting  of  the  committee  the  four  Democratic  members 
signed  the  report  of  the  chairman  ;  and  Marvin  of  New  York, 
Wilson  of  New  Hampshire,  and  Fisher  of  Ohio  signed  that 
of  Mr.  Dickey.  The  majority  held  that  slaves  were  property ; 
and  the  minority  contended  that  "  one  man  could  not  hold 
property  in  another."  No  action,  however,  was  taken. 

Coming  up  at  the  next  session,  Mr.  Dickey  and  Mr.  Wilson 
of  New  Hampshire  spoke  against  it,  while  Mr.  Brown  of  Mis 
sissippi  and  Mr.  Cabell  of  Florida  followed  on  the  other  side. 
Mr.  Burt  closed  the  debate  with  the  assertion  that  the  simple 
question  involved  in  the  bill  is,  Are  slaves  property  ?  The 
motion  to  lay  it  on  the  table  was  rejected  by  nineteen  major 
ity.  Mr.  Giddings  moved  a  reconsideration,  in  support  of 
which  he  made  a  very  able  speech,  accepting  the  issue  ten- 


544       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

dered  by  Mr.  Burt,  and  boldly  enunciating  the  doctrines  of 
human  rights.  By  a  mistake  of  the  clerk  it  appeared  that  the 
casting  vote  of  the  Speaker  would  be  necessary,  which  would 
have  been  cast  against  the  bill.  Subsequently,  however,  it 
appeared  that  one  vote  had  not  been  counted,  and  the  bill 
was  lost  by  that  majority.  A  reconsideration  was  moved  and 
carried,  and  the  bill  was  passed  by  a  majority  of  six.  By  that 
majority  the  House  of  Representatives  declared  that  slaves 
were  property  ;  but  the  bill  was  not  acted  upon  by  the  Senate, 
and  it  failed  of  becoming  a  law. 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 

THE  LIBERTY  PARTY. 

Early  Abolitionists  pledged  to  Political  Action.  —  Questioning  Candidates.  — 
Seward,  Gushing,  Fillmore,  Brooks,  Parmenter.  —  A  Political  Party  demanded. 

—  Myron  Holley.  — New  York  State  Society  call  a  National  Convention  at  Al 
bany.  —  Opposed  by  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Massachusetts  Society.  — 
"Meeting  of  the  Convention.  — Nomination  of  James  G.  Biniey  for  President 
and  Thomas  Earle  for  Vice-President.  —  Small  Vote.  — Address  of  Committee. 

—  Salmon  P.  Chase.  —  State  Convention  in  Ohio.  —  Peterboro'  Convention.  — 
Address  to  the  Slaves.  —  National  Convention.  —  Kesolutions.  —  Candidates. 

—  Philadelphia  Convention.  —  Professor  Cleaveland's  Address.  —  Election.  — 
"Western  and   Southwestern   Convention.  —  Mr.   Chase's  Address.  —  Eastern 
Convention.  —  Dissensions.  —  Unconstitutionally  of  Slavery.  —  Divisions. 

THE  early  Abolitionists  were  pledged  to  the  removal  of  slav 
ery  by  political  as  well  as  moral  agencies.  Their  modes  of 
political  action,  however,  were  undefined.  Some  contemplated 
it  through  existing  political  organizations,  others  through  the 
formation  of  a  new  party.  Mr.  Garrison,  as  early  as  1834, 
advocated  the  organization  of  a  "  Christian  party  in  politics  "  ; 
and  two  years  later  Professor  Follen  suggested  the  idea  of  a 
new,  progressive  Democratic  party,  of  which  the  abolition  of 
slavery  should  be  a  fundamental  principle.  William  Goodell, 
Alvan  Stewart,  Myron  Holley,  James  G.  Birney,  Joshua  Leavitt, 
Gerrit  Smith,  and  other  eminent  Abolitionists,  early  and  per 
sistently  urged  political  action,  and  the  formation  of  a  party 
that  should  make  the  abolition  of  slavery  a  paramount  issue. 

Antislavery  men  first  exemplified  the  principle  of  political 
action  by  questioning  candidates  for  public  office.  Though 
their  questions  were  generally  treated  with  neglect,  their  num 
bers  so  increased  that  they  were  able,  in  some  localities,  to 
effect  results.  In  1838,  in  the  great  contest  in  New  York, 
William  H.  Seward  and  Luther  Bradish,  Whig  candidates  for 

69 


546        EISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

governor  and  lieutenant-governor,  gave  respectful  answers  to 
their  questions,  while  the  Democratic  candidates  refused  to 
answer  at  all.  The  answers  of  Mr.  Bradish  were  satisfactory ; 
those  of  Mr.  Seward  were  but  partially  so,  and  their  majorities 
were  unquestionably  increased  by  the  abolition  votes  they  re 
ceived.  At  this  election,  Millar d  Fillmore,  who  was  a  candi 
date  for  Congress,  was  also  questioned  and  gave  satisfactory 
replies  ;  and  he  received  the  antislavery  vote.  In  after  years, 
however,  he  forgot  the  pledges  he  then  gave,  and  disappointed 
the  hopes  he  then  excited. 

Among  the  questioned  candidates  of  those  days  was  Caleb 
Gushing  of  Massachusetts.  He  had  vindicated  in  Congress 
the  right  of  petition  with  signal  zeal  and  ability ;  and,  when 
plied  with  questions,  he  framed  his  reply  so  as  to  meet  even 
the  exacting  demands  of  John  G.  Whittier.  But,  like  Mr. 
Fillmore,  he  failed  to  remember  the  pledges  he  was  then  so 
prompt  to  give ;  and,  a  few  years  later,  he  was  found  ready  to 
use  the  patronage  of  the  Federal  government  "  to  crush  out 
the  spirit  of  Abolitionism  "  in  his  native  State. 

In  the  Middlesex  district  of  the  same  State,  Nathan  Brooks 
and  William  Parmenter  were  candidates  for  Congress.  Mr. 
Parmenter,  the  Democratic  candidate,  was  known  to  be  un 
sound  and  unreliable  on  the  antislavery  issue.  Mr.  Brooks, 
the  Whig  candidate,  though  known  by  his  personal  friends  to 
be  in  sympathy  with  his  questioners,  declined  to  answer,  from 
conscientious  scruples  about  giving  such  pledges.  His  wife,  a 
lady  of  culture,  was  then  and  continued  to  be  an  earnest  and 
self-sacrificing  Abolitionist ;  one  of  that  class  of  antislavery 
women  to  whose  early  labors  the  cause  was  so  largely  indebted. 
But  the  Abolitionists,  firmly  adhering  to  their  policy,  refused, 
without  such  pledges,  to  give  him  their  votes,  and  he  was 
defeated. 

The  plan  of  questioning  candidates  in  its  practical  workings 
not  proving  satisfactory,  a  distinct  political  organization  was 
demanded  by  some  of  the  Abolitionists.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
New  York  State  Antislavery  Society,  held  at  Utica,  in  Septem 
ber,  1838,  a  series  of  resolutions,  setting  forth  with  distinctness 
the  principles  of  political  action,  and  pledging  the  society  to 


THE   LIBERTY  PARTY.  547 

vote  for  no  candidate  unpledged  to  antislavery  measures,  was 
adopted.  These  resolutions  were  drawn  by  William  Goodell, 
and  reported  by  the  business  committee,  at  the  head  of  which 
was  Myron  Holley.  They  were  not  intended  to  commit  the 
Abolitionists  of  New  York  to  the  formation  of  a  new  politi 
cal  party  ;  but  they  enunciated  principles  of  action  to  which,  in 
the  then  existing  state  of  political  parties,  it  was  difficult  to 
adhere  without  such  an  organization. 

At  the  sixth  anniversary  meeting  of  the  American  Antislav 
ery  Society,  in  May,  1839,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  call 
a  national  convention  to  discuss  the  principles  and  measures 
of  the  antislavery  enterprise.  This  convention  assembled  at 
Albany  on  the  last  of  July.  The  convention  was  not  largely 
attended,  nor  did  its  result  fully  satisfy  those  who  desired  a 
distinct  political  organization.  It  issued  an  address,  however, 
in  which  it  was  asserted  that  the  Slave  Power  was  waging  a 
deliberate  and  determined  war  against  the  liberties  of  the  free 
States  ;  that  the  political  power  of  slavery  could  only  be  met 
by  political  action ;  and  that  slavery  must  be  driven  out  and 
dethroned  from  the  stronghold  in  which  it  was  so  firmly  in 
trenched  by  the  ballot-box.  In  September  an  antislavery 
county  convention  was  held  at  Rochester,  New  York.  A  few 
months  before  the  meeting  of  that  convention,  Myron  Holley, 
a  resident  of  that  city,  had  established  the  "  Freeman,"  in 
which  he  had  advocated  political  action  with  such  earnest 
ness  and  ability  that  he  has  been  regarded,  by  common  con 
sent,  the  founder  of  the  Liberty  party. 

Mr.  Holley  was  a  gentleman  of  superior  attainments.  He 
had  held  a  leading  position  in  the  politics  of  Western  New 
York  as  a  supporter  of  De  Witt  Clinton,  and  was  a  canal  com 
missioner  during  a  considerable  portion  of  the  time  in  which 
the  Erie  Canal  was  in  process  of  construction.  He  was  a  ripe 
scholar,  a  ready  writer,  an  impressive  speaker,  and  an  urbane 
gentleman,  of  graceful  manners  and  commanding  presence.  A 
bold  thinker,  and  of  large  forecast,  he  clearly  saw  that  slavery 
was  to  be  put  down  either  by  the  ballot-box  or  by  the  car 
tridge-box,  or  perhaps  by  both.  He  was  for  hastening  without 
delay  a  resort  to  the  former,  in  order  that  the  stern  appeal  to 


548        RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

the  latter  might  if  possible  be  averted.  It  was  under  such  a 
leader  that  the  convention  adopted  a  series  of  resolutions  and 
an  address,  in  which  the  necessity  of  distinct  political  action 
was  recognized,  and  the  duty  enjoined. 

In  the  month  of  January,  1840,  the  New  York  State  Anti- 
slavery  Society  held  a  convention  in  Genesee  County.  Mr. 
Holley,  Gerrit  Smith,  and  other  Abolitionists,  favorable  to 
political  action,  were  present.  It  was  resolved  to  issue  a  call 
for  a  national  antislavery  convention,  to  be  held  on  the  1st 
of  April  at  Albany.  This  convention  was  called  to  discuss 
"  the  question  of  an  independent  nomination  of  abolition  can 
didates  for  the  two  highest  offices  in  our  national  government ; 
and,  if  thought  expedient,  to  make  such  nominations  for  the 
friends  of  freedom  to  support  at  the  next  election." 

The  executive  committee  of  the  national  society  took  no 
action  in  relation  to  this  movement  of  the  New  York  society ; 
but  the  board  of  managers  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery 
Society  issued  an  address  to  the  Abolitionists  of  the  United 
States,  in  which  they  took  exceptions  to  the  manner  in  which 
the  convention  had  been  called,  and  the  designs  of  those  who 
called  it.  In  this  address  the  organization  of  a  distinctive 
political  party  was  declared  to  be  in  violation  of  the  wishes  of 
the  great  body  of  the  Abolitionists,  as  had  been  shown  by 
the  unanimous  votes  of  the  State  societies  of  Massachusetts, 
Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut.  The  silence  of  the  executive 
committee  of  the  national  society,  and  the  advocacy  of  the 
"  Emancipator,"  its  organ,  were  both  sharply  criticised.  They 
thus  closed  their  address :  "  For  the  honor  and  purity  of  our 
enterprise,  we  trust  that  the  Abolitionists  of  the  several  States 
will  refuse  to  give  any  countenance  to  the  proposed  convention 
at  Albany.  Let  their  verdict  be  recorded  against  it  as  unau 
thorized,  unnecessary,  and  premature.  Let  the  meeting  be 
insignificant  and  local,  and  thus  rendered  harmless." 

The  convention  assembled  at  the  time  and  place  designated. 
Six  States  only  were  represented.  Of  its  one  hundred  and 
twenty-one  delegates,  one  hundred  and  four  were  from  the 
State  of  New  York.  Alvan  Stewart  was  made  president.  He 
was  an  early  Abolitionist,  having  witnessed  and  realized,  while 


THE   LIBERTY   PARTY.  549 

visiting  the  South,  in  1816,  the  cruelties,  corruptions,  and 
crimes  necessarily  involved  in  the  system  of  chattel  slavery. 
He  was  sincere  and  tender-hearted.  The  cruelties  of  the  sys 
tem  seemed  to  affect  him  more  than  its  crimes  ;  and  he  would 
paint  its  horrors  in  language  that  none  who  listened  to  him 
could  ever  forget.  One  that  well  knew  this  remarkable  man 
who  rendered  such  effective  service  to  the  antislavery  cause  in 
its  days  of  weakness  and  trial,  thus  describes  him :  "  His 
conceptions  were  grand,  his  sweep  of  thought  majestic,  his 
language  unique,  his  illustrations  graphic,  and  his  knowledge 
varied  and  minute."  He  had  been  a  Whig,  and  one  of  the 
favorite  orators  of  the  party.  A  good  lawyer,  a  clear-sighted 
politician,  accustomed  to  deal  with  practical  affairs,  he  early 
saw  the  necessity  of  assaulting  slavery  as  a  political  evil  by 
the  use  of  the  ballot.  He  came  to  that  convention  to  aid,  if 
possible,  in  giving  form  and  shape  to  that  idea. 

Though  small  in  numbers  and  somewhat  local  in  its  com 
position,  its  members  were  conscientious,  earnest,  and  deter 
mined.  After  full  debate  and  deliberate  consideration,  it  was 
resolved  by  the  small  majority  of  eleven  votes  to  present  candi 
dates  for  the  presidency  and  vice-presidency.  For  the  former 
James  G.  Birney  was  selected,  and  for  the  latter  Thomas  Earle 
of  Pennsylvania. 

Born  in  Kentucky,  reared  and  educated  under  the  slave 
system,  Mr.  Birney  was  an  hereditary  owner  of  slaves.  He 
embraced  the  antislavery  reform  from  the  deepest  convictions 
of  its  justice,  and  gave  freedom  to  his  own  slaves  from  the 
purest  motives.  He  sacrificed  property,  political  preferment, 
social  standing,  home  and  kindred,  that  he  might  serve  a 
cause  that  could  give  him  neither  fortune  nor  favor.  A  gen 
tleman  with  dignity  of  mariner  and  varied  culture,  a  sound 
lawyer,  remarkably  well  versed  in  constitutional  and  inter 
national  law,  he  wrote  and  spoke  with  grace  and  vigor.  He 
was  a  prudent  counsellor,  and  inclined  to  moderate  action. 
Conciliatory  in  tone  and  manner,  he  was  firm  and  fearless  in 
maintaining  his  convictions  of  right.  Thoroughly  compre 
hending  the  vitality  of  the  slave  system  and  the  tenacity  of 
slaveholders,  he  foresaw  and  predicted  the  terrible  convulsions 


550        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

into  which  the  Slave  Power  would  plunge  the  country.  He  be 
lieved  that  the  exercise  of  the  elective  franchise  was  binding 
upon  all.  To  possess  and  not  to  use  the  right  to  vote  he 
declared  to  be  "  inconsistent  with  the  duty  of  Abolitionists 
under  the  Constitution." 

Mr.  Earle  was  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  of  Quaker  ances 
try  and  sentiments.  A  law  student  under  John  Sergeant 
of  Philadelphia,  and  editor  and  author  of  several  papers  and 
books,  he  occupied  quite  a  prominent  public  position  in  his 
adopted  city  and  State.  Though  acting  with  the  Democratic 
party,  he  was  an  active  member  of  the  old  Pennsylvania  Abo 
lition  Society.  Laboring  for  twenty  years  for  constitutional 
reform  in  his  State,  he  was  a  prominent  member  of  the  con 
vention  called  for  that  purpose,  of  which,  says  Whittier,  he 
was  the  "  recognized  author  and  originator."  In  that  conven 
tion,  his  political  friends  proposed  "  white  suffrage  "  as  the 
basis  of  representation  ;  but,  though  by  so  doing  he  sacrificed 
all  hopes  of  political  preferment,  he  took  and  firmly  main 
tained  the  doctrine  of  human  rights,  without  distinction  of 
color  or  race. 

Such  were  the  men  selected  by  the  Liberty  party  as  its  can 
didates,  as  it  entered  the  arena  of  national  politics,  and  for  the 
first  time  solicited  the  suffrages  of  the  humane  and  liberty- 
loving  for  the  highest  offices  of  the  government.  Its  vote, 
however,  was  but  small.  Of  the  two  million  and  a  half  of  the 
votes  cast  at  that  election,  its  candidates  received  less  than 
seven  thousand. 

But  small  as  was  the  vote,  the  friends  of  this  new  mode  of 
action  were  encouraged.  Soon  after  the  election  the  national 
committee  of  correspondence  issued  an  address  to  the  friends 
of  the  oppressed  in  the  United  States.  It  was  written  by 
Alvan  Stewart,  and  bore  the  marks  of  his  enthusiastic  and 
hopeful  spirit.  It  congratulated  the  friends  of  the  slave  that 
humanity,  as  a  new  element  in  political  action,  had  been 
found ;  that  the  voice  of  stern  justice  was  beginning  to  speak 
from  a  new  place ;  and  that  the  power  to  overthrow  slav 
ery  had  been  discovered  in  "  the  terse  literature  of  the  ballot- 
box." 


THE  LIBEKTY   PARTY.  551 

The  Liberty  party  received  into  its  ranks,  in  1841,  an  impor 
tant  accession  in  the  person  of  Salmon  P.  Chase.  Mr.  Chase 
had,  as  early  as  1837,  acted  as  counsel  for  a  woman  claimed  as 
a  fugitive  slave,  and  also  for  James  G.  Birney,  who  had  been 
indicted  for  the  offence  of  harboring  a  slave.  In  very  elaborate 
arguments  he  had  maintained  that  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  of 
1793  was  unwarranted  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States ; 
that  Congress  had  no  power  to  impose  any  duties  in  fugitive- 
slave  cases  upon  State  magistrates  ;  and  that  slavery  was  local, 
and  depended  on  State  law  for  existence.  Like  several  other 
antislavery  men  in  Ohio  he  had  voted  for  General  Harrison. 
But  the  course  of  Mr.  Tyler  had  convinced  him  that  the  cause 
of  emancipation  had  little  to  hope  from  the  Whigs,  whose  ac 
tion  was  modified,  if  not  controlled,  by  their  slaveholding 
members  at  the  South.  He  united  with  others  in  calling  an 
antislavery  State  convention,  in  December,  1841,  at  Columbus. 
It  was  strong  in  numbers,  talent,  and  character.  Samuel 
Lewis  presided,  and  Leicester  King,  a  gentleman  of  large  in 
fluence,  was  nominated  for  governor.  An  address,  written  and 
reported  by  Mr.  Chase,  and  unanimously  adopted  by  the  con 
vention,  was  issued.  It  was  a  full  exposition  of  the  powers 
and  duties  of  the  people,  and  of  the  principles  and  purposes 
of  the  Liberty  party.  It  was,  perhaps,  the  best  presentation 
of  the  subject  that  had  then  been  made.  No  previous  paper 
had  so  clearly  defined  the  province  of  political  action,  its  limi 
tations  and  prospective  results.  It  was  extensively  circulated, 
and  exerted  considerable  influence  in  giving  cohesion  and  im 
pulse  to  the  new  organization. 

Other  conventions,  State,  county,  and  district,  were  held. 
The  men  and  presses  that  had  inaugurated  this  mode  of  effort 
exhibited  activity  and  zeal,  accessions  were  made,  and  the 
party  steadily  increased.  Among  these  conventions  was  one 
held  in  Peterboro',  New  York,  in  January,  1842.  It  issued  an 
address  to  the  slaves  of  the  United  States,  written  by  Gerrit 
Smith.  In  justification  of  this  act  it  was  proclaimed  that  the 
slave  has  the  right  "  to  all  the  words  of  consolation,  encour 
agement,  and  advice  which  his  fellow-men  can  convey  to  him." 
Slaves  were  specially  enjoined  to  use  no  violence,  and  to  cherish 


552        RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

no  vindictive  feelings  towards  their  oppressors.  They  were 
urged  to  pray  to  Him  who  hears  the  sighing  of  the  prisoner  to 
grant  them  speedy  deliverance,  and  never  let  bribes,  menaces, 
or  sufferings  obtain  their  consent  to  violate  God's  law.  They 
were  told,  however,  to  have  no  conscience  against  the  inex 
pressibly  wicked  law  which  forbade  them  to  read,  and  that  the 
slave  who  had  learned  to  read  "  has  already  conquered  half 
the  difficulty  in  getting  to  Canada,  and  the  slave  who  has 
learned  to  read  the  Bible  has  learned  the  way  to  heaven." 
They  were  cheered  by  the  declaration  that  the  decree  of  God 
had  gone  forth  that  slavery  should  continue  to  be  "  tortured 
even  unto  death,"  and  that  their  redemption  drew  nigh.  They 
were  counselled  to  seek  liberty  by  flight,  and  assured  that  the 
Abolitionist  knows  no  more  grateful  employment  than  that  of 
carrying  the  escaping  slave  to  Canada. 

A  national  convention  of  the  Liberty  party  was  held  at 
Buffalo  in  August,  1843.  There  were  nearly  a  thousand  dele 
gates,  every  free  State  but  New  Hampshire  being  represented. 
It  was  a  convention  of  character  and  integrity,  embracing 
among  its  leaders  men  of  large  ability  and  influence.  This 
was  freely  accorded  by  those  who  did  not  belong  to  it  by  either 
association  or  sympathy.  Says  Stephen  S.  Foster,  who  was 
present,  though  not  a  member :  "It  was  in  my  judgment  the 
most  earnest,  devoted,  patriotic,  and  practically  intelligent 
political  body  which  has  ever  met  on  this  continent."  A  com 
mittee  was  appointed  to  report  a  series  of  resolutions  embody 
ing  the  principles  and  policy  of  the  party.  An  unsuccessful 
effort  was  made  in  this  committee,  supported  by  Mr.  Chase 
and  opposed  by  Mr.  Goodell,  to  postpone  the  nominations  till 
the  spring  of  next  year.  This  committee  reported  a  platform 
in  which  were  clearly  enunciated  the  purposes  of  the  organiza 
tion.  An  effort  was  made  in  the  committee  by  John  Pierpont, 
but  successfully  opposed  there  by  Mr.  Chase,  to  report  a  dec 
laration  "  to  regard  and  treat  the  third  clause  of  the  Con 
stitution,  whenever  applied  to  the  case  of  a  fugitive  slave,  as 
utterly  null  and  void  ;  and  consequently  as  forming  no  part  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  whenever  we  are  called 
upon  or  sworn  to  support  it."  Failing  in  the  committee,  he 


THE   LIBERTY  PARTY.  553 

introduced  it  into  the  convention  with  the  startling  question : 
"  Shall  we  obey  the  dead  fathers  or  the  living  God  ? "  The 
convention  responded  to  his  appeal,  and  adopted  the  resolution 
by  a  decisive  majority. 

The  convention  nominated  for  President  James  G.  Birney, 
then  residing  in  Michigan,  and  for  Vice-President  Thomas 
Morris  of  Ohio.  With  its  platform  and  candidates  the  Liberty 
party  went  into  the  canvass  of  1844  with  zeal  and  energy.  A 
series  of  local  and  State  conventions  was  held,  at  which  its 
platform  and  candidates  were  earnestly  commended  for  the 
suffrages  of  the  country.  Among  these  conventions  was  one 
in  Philadelphia  on  the  22d  of  February,  1844.  It  appointed  a 
committee,  of  which  Professor  Charles  D.  Cleaveland  of  that 
city  was  chairman,  to  prepare  an  address  to  the  country.  This 
address  from  the  graceful  and  eloquent  pen  of  its  chairman  was 
an  admirable  presentation  of  the  principles  and  purposes  of  the 
party.  It  was  largely  circulated.  Thus  supported  the  Liberty 
party  cast  more  than  sixty  thousand  votes,  had  the  balance 
of  power  in  the  States  of  New  York  and  Michigan,  and  held 
in  its  hands  the  fate  of  that  memorable  contest. 

Though  the  immediate  annexation  of  Texas  followed  at 
once  the  election  of  Mr.  Polk,  the  leaders  of  the  Liberty  party 
felt  justified  in  their  course  of  action,  and  still  continued  their 
appeals  to  the  people  to  join  their  organization  and  sustain 
their  line  of  policy.  In  the  spring  of  1845  a  convention  of  the 
party,  designed  to  embrace  all  who  were  in  favor  of  continuing 
an  uncompromising  warfare  against  the  usurpations  of  the 
Slave  Power,  and  who  were  determined  to  use  all  constitu 
tional  and  honorable  means  to  effect  the  extinction  of  slavery 
in  their  respective  States,  and  its  reduction  to  its  constitutional 
limits  in  the  United  States,  was  called  to  meet  at  Cincinnati, 
and  was  held  on  the  llth  and  12th  of  June,  about  two  thou 
sand  persons  being  present.  It  was  strong  in  character  as 
well  as  in  numbers.  It  issued  an  address  written  by  Salmon 
P.  Chase,  in  which  the  evils  of  slavery  and  the  crimes  of  the 
Slave  Power  were  presented  with  great  comprehensiveness  and 
eloquence.  The  conditions  of  ultimate  triumph  were  declared 
to  be  "  unswerving  fidelity  to  our  principles ;  unalterable  de- 

70 


554       RISE  AND  FALL  OF   THE  SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

termination  to  carry  these  principles  to  the  ballot-box  at  every 
election  ;  inflexible  and  unanimous  support  of  those  and  only 
those  who  are  true  to  these  principles."  Recognizing  the 
moral  as  well  as  political  character  of  the  struggle  in  which 
they  were  enlisted,  and  confident  of  the  favor  of  God,  the 
address  said :  "  We  are  resolved  to  go  forward,  knowing  that 
our  cause  is  just,  trusting  in  God.  We  ask  you  to  go  forward 
with  us,  invoking  his  blessing  who  sent  his  Son  to  redeem 
mankind.  With  him  are  the  issues  of  all  events.  He  can 
and  he  will  disappoint  all  the  devices  of  oppression.  He  can, 
and  we  trust  he  will,  make  our  instrumentality  efficient  for 
the  redemption  of  our  land  from  slavery,  and  for  the  fulfilment 
of  our  fathers'  pledge  in  behalf  of  freedom,  before  him  and 
before  the  world." 

In  October  a  convention  of  the  friends  of  freedom  in  the 
Eastern  and  Middle  States  was  held  in  Boston.  An  address 
was  issued  appealing  to  the  people  by  every  consideration  of 
religion,  humanity,  and  patriotism  to  exert  all  their  powers  for 
the  overthrow  of  slavery.  "  Your  homes  and  your  altars,"  it 
said,  "  your  honor  and  good  name,  are  at  stake.  The  slave  in 
his  prison  stretches  his  manacled  hand  towards  you,  implor 
ing  your  aid.  A  cloud  of  witnesses  surround  you.  The 
oppressed  millions  of  Europe  beseech  you  to  remove  from 
their  pathway  to  freedom  the  reproach  and  stumbling-block 
of  democratic  slavery.  From  the  damp  depths  of  dungeons, 
from  the  stake  and  the  scaffold,  where  the  martyrs  of  liberty 
have  sealed  their  testimony  with  their  blood,  solemn  and  awful 
voices  call  upon  you  to  make  the  dead  letter  of  your  repub 
licanism  a  living  truth.  Join  with  us,  then,  fellow-citizens. 
Slavery  is  mighty  ;  but  it  can  be  overthrown.  In  the  name  of 
God  and  humanity  let  us  bring  the  mighty  ballot-box  of  a 
kingless  people  to  bear  upon  it." 

Mr.  Chase  and  other  leading  men  of  the  party  confidently 
expected  large  accessions  to  their  ranks  as  the  result  of  these 
conventions  and  from  that  sense  of  outrage  and  injury,  felt  by 
large  numbers  at  the  North,  inflicted  by  the  Texas  scheme. 
They  were,  however,  disappointed  ;  for  the  Liberty  party  con 
tained  within  itself  the  seeds,  if  not  of  its  own  dissolution,  at 


THE  LIBERTY  PARTY.  555 

least  of  dissensions  and  divisions,  and  there  were  marked 
differences  of  sentiment  on  other  subjects,  growing  out  of 
former  political  and  ecclesiastical  connections,  which  could  not 
but  reveal  themselves  in  their  new  relations. 

These  differences  manifested  themselves  in  a  very  marked 
degree  in  a  State  convention  in  New  York  during  the  same 
summer.  Among  the  leading  points  of  these  differences  was 
their  divergence  of  views  upon  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  ;  some  regarding  it  an  antislavery  instrument,  and  some 
maintaining  the  exactly  opposite  opinion.  Before  the  disrup 
tion  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society  the  former  view  had 
been  entertained  by  some,  from  which  they  deduced  the  conclu 
sion  that  slavery  was  unconstitutional  as  well  as  morally  wrong. 
In  1844  Mr.  Goodell  had  published  a  work  entitled,  "  Views 
of  American  Constitutional  Law  in  its  Bearings  upon  Ameri 
can  Slavery."  It  had  a  large  circulation  and  exerted  consid 
erable  influence.  Soon  after  its  publication  Lysander  Spooner, 
a  lawyer  of  Boston,  published  the  "  Unconstitutionality  of 
Slavery."  It  was  a  work  of  decided  ability  and  acuteness, 
and,  though  by  many  deemed  fallacious  in  its  reasonings  and 
conclusions,  exerted  no  small  influence  upon  the  popular  mind, 
large  numbers  of  the  Liberty  party  accepting  its  positions. 
These  causes  soon  began  in  a  clear  and  unmistakable  man 
ner  to  reveal  their  presence,  by  the  diverse  modes  of  action 
and  policies  to  which  they  gave  rise.  Of  course  these  divided 
counsels  and  inharmonious  efforts  hindered  the  growth  of  the 
party  and  greatly  diminished  its  influence. 


CHAPTER    XXXIX. 

MOBS.  —  ANTISLAVERY   ACTIVITIES.  —  WOMEN'S   FAIRS. 

Riot  at  Cincinnati.  —  Cowardice  of  the  City  Government.  —  Manly  Stand  of 
Dr.  Bailey.  —  Eiot  in  Philadelphia.  —  Riots  in  New  Bedford,  Nantucket, 
and  Portland.  —  Riotous  Demonstration  in  the  North.  —  The  Tone  of  the 
South.  —  Divisions  among  Abolitionists.  —  New  Organization.  —  Old  Organ 
ization.  —  Antislavery  Fairs.  —  Liberty  Bell.  — Address  to  the  Slaves.  — Ad 
dress  to  President  Tyler.  —  One  hundred  Conventions.  —  Thomas  P.  Beach.  — 
Visit  of  Abolitionists  to  England.  —  Henry  C.  Wright.  —  Case  of  John  L. 
Brown.  —  Decrease  of  Antislavery  Societies.  —  Spread  of  Antislavery  Senti 
ments.  —  The  Impending  Struggle. 

THE  mob  spirit  seemed  to  culminate  in  the  murder  of  Love- 
joy  and  in  the  burning  of  Pennsylvania  Hall.  Subsiding  for 
a  time,  it  burst  forth  afresh  in  1841.  In  September  of  that 
year  a  terrible  riot  broke  out  in  Cincinnati  against  Abolition 
ists  and  the  colored  people.  For  two  days  the  mob  set  all  law 
at  defiance,  and  held  undisputed  sway  over  the  city.  Citizens 
from  Kentucky  largely  participated  in  the  outrage,  declaring 
that  they  had  been  sent  for,  and  that  there  were  hundreds  who 
were  ready  to  come  and  rid  the  city  of  negroes  and  Abolition 
ists.  Bands  of  armed  men  patrolled  its  streets  searching  for 
negroes,  sending  the  men  to  prison  under  the  pretence  of  pro 
tection,  leaving  the  women  and  children  defenceless,  to  be  sub 
sequently  outraged  and  treated  with  the  greatest  indignity. 
Slaveholders  hunted  among  them  for  runaway  slaves,  and 
lawless  violence  ran  riot.  The  office  of  the  "  Philanthro 
pist  "  was  attacked,  and  its  press  was  destroyed.  A  colored 
meeting-house  and  several  dwellings  were  demolished,  the 
city  authorities  doing  little  to  prevent,  or  even  restrain,  the 
outrageous  proceedings.  But,  more  significant  of  the  spirit 
that  ruled  the  hour,  and  indicating  pretty  clearly  where  the 
responsibility  for  the  riot  rested,  a  public  meeting  was  held, 


MOBS.  557 

the  mayor  presiding,  at  which  resolutions  were  adopted,  that 
every  negro  escaping  from  his  master  should  be  given  up  ; 
that  the  negroes  should  be  disarmed  ;  and  that  the  law  of 
1807,  requiring  free  negroes  to  give  bonds,  should  be  enforced. 
The  meeting  also  denounced  the  Abolitionists,  and  assured  their 
"  Southern  brethren  "  that  these  resolutions  were  adopted  in 
good  faith,  and  that  they  would  be  executed. 

The  immediate  cause  of  the  riot,  it  was  stated  by  the  "  Phi 
lanthropist,"  was  the  presence  of  men  from  Kentucky,  who 
precipitated  these  scenes  of  violence  upon  the  city  and  partici 
pated  largely  in  them.  But  subsequent  revelations  disclosed 
the  fact  that  they  were  greatly  encouraged,  if  not  invited,  by 
some  of  the  business  men,  who  had  been  threatened  with  loss 
of  trade  if  the  nuisance  of  free  negroes  and  Abolitionists  was 
not  abated,  and  who  took  this  method  of  assuring  their  South 
ern  brethren  of  their  soundness  ;  so  that  there  was  far  too 
much  of  truth  in  the  humiliating  confession,  which  was  then 
made,  that  Cincinnati  was  but  "  a  conquered  province  of  Ken 
tucky."  A  few  antislavery  men  advised  Dr.  Bailey  to  suspend 
its  publication.  To  such  advice  he  nobly  replied :  "  No,  friends, 
the  i  Philanthropist '  must  be  published.  The  war  has  become 
now  openly  a  war  against  free  discussion,  and  shall  we  give 
back  ?  We  are  not  ambitious  to  be  a  martyr,  life  is  precious ; 
but  we  are  willing,  Heaven  helping  us,  to  suffer  all  things 
rather  than  turn  traitor  to  a  cause  we  have  long  advocated,  — 
a  cause  identified  with  the  highest  interests  of  man,  —  a  cause 
which  God  approves,  and  which  he  will  conduct  to  a  glorious 
issue,  whatever  the  fate  of  its  advocates."  This  bold  and 
manly  stand  taken  by  Dr.  Bailey  extorted  the  admiration  and 
excited  the  sympathy  of  those  who  differed  widely  from  him  in 
their  views.  Mr.  Garrison  sent  him  a  hundred  dollars  to  aid 
him  in  re-establishing  his  press,  and  wrote  him  a  letter  urging 
him  not  to  yield  to  the  violence  of  his  enemies  or  the  timid 
counsels  of  his  friends. 

On  the  1st  of  August,  1842,  the  colored  people  of  Philadel 
phia  attempted  a  celebration  in  commemoration  of  West  India 
emancipation.  Their  procession  was  assailed  by  a  mob  made 
up  largely  of  Irish  laborers.  Deeds  of  violence  and  blood- 


558        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

shed  were  enacted.  A  public  hall  and  a  church  were  burned, 
private  houses  were  demolished,  and  many  families  were  re 
duced  to  abject  penury.  While  the  buildings  were  in  flames 
the  fire  companies  refused  to  make  the  necessary  effort  for 
their  extinguishment ;  and  for  three  days  the  mob  received 
but  little  check  from  the  city  authorities,  who,  as  on  a  previous 
occasion,  either  from  timidity  or  base  connivance,  shrank  from 
a  proper  performance  of  their  duties.  Adding  insult  to  injury, 
they  proclaimed  the  colored  people  and  their  friends  respon 
sible  for  the  very  outrages  of  which  they  were  but  the  victims. 
A  decision  of  the  Court  of  Sessions  gave  color  to  the  gravest 
suspicions  concerning  the  motives  of  this  conduct.  A  public 
hall,  which  had  been  erected  by  the  colored  people  for  temper 
ance  and  religious  purposes  solely,  was  ordered  to  be  demol 
ished  on  a  petition  representing  that  there  was  well-grounded 
apprehension  that  it  would  be  burned  by  the  mob,  and  that  it 
was  therefore  a  nuisance.  So  overawed  by,  if  not  in  sympa 
thy  with,  these  outrages,  committed  at  the  bidding  of  the  Slave 
Power,  were  the  civic  authorities  of  one  of  the  leading  cities 
of  the  Union. 

Nor  was  this  spirit  of  lawless  violence  confined  to  Pennsyl 
vania.  Similar  demonstrations  occurred  elsewhere.  Within 
a  few  days  of  these  occurrences,  antislavery  meetings  were 
broken  up  in  New  Bedford  and  Nantucket  in  Massachusetts. 
Early  in  September,  Stephen  S.  Foster  was  mobbed  at  an  anti- 
slavery  meeting  in  Portland,  and  was  with  great  difficulty 
rescued  from  the  hands  of  the  rioters.  In  other  places  there 
were  similar  outbreaks ;  meetings  were  broken  up ;  halls  in 
jured,  persons  wounded,  and  the  spirit  of  riot  and  misrule  too 
generally  prevailed. 

While  the  North  was  thus  disturbed  and  disgraced  by  these 
riotous  assemblages  of  Southern  sympathizers,  the  peace  of 
the  South  was  seldom  broken  by  such  demonstrations.  For 
the  same  Power  that  held  in  bonds  the  body  of  the  black  man 
inthralled  the  spirit  of  the  white  man.  Few  were  bold  enough 
there  to  express  words  of  sympathy  for  the  slave,  or  to  question 
the  authority  of  the  master.  To  be  suspected  even  of  pity  for 
the  one,  or  lack  of  fealty  to  the  other,  was  to  be  in  danger. 


ANTISLAVERY   ACTIVITIES.  559 

An  enforced  and  submissive  silence  there  reigned,  seldom 
broken  by  pulpit  or  press,  by  public  denunciation,  or  even  by 
private  expostulation.  But  if  perchance  heart  or  conscience 
did  impel  utterances,  and  the  feelings  of  humanity  did  gain 
the  mastery,  then  the  swift  hand  of  violence  was  sure  to 
fall. 

When  the  American  Antislavery  Society  was  rent  in  twain 
in  1840,  the  hope  had  been  expressed  by  John  G.  Whittier  that 
the  members  of  the  old  and  new  organizations,  if  they  could 
not  walk  together  in  unity,  could  co-operate  with  each  other 
for  the  common  cause.  Catholic  and  charitable  in  his  views, 
he  recognized  the  high  character,  earnestness,  and  services  of 
such  men  as  Garrison,  Phillips,  May,  Quincy,  and  Francis 
Jackson,  and  such  women  as  Mrs.  Child,  Mrs.  Chapman,  Mrs. 
Mott,  the  Grimkes,  and  Abby  Kelley,  of  the  old  organization, 
as  well  as  those  of  such  men  as  the  Tappans,  Birney,  Goodell, 
Leavitt,  Gerrit  Smith,  Alvan  Stewart,  Myron  Holley,  General 
Fessenden,  and  Samuel  E.  Sewall,  of  the  new  organization,  to 
which  he  belonged  ;  and  he  desired  that  the  influence  of 
neither  should  be  lost  to  the  cause.  But  these  hopes  were  not 
destined  to  be  realized.  Divided  into  two  rival,  if  not  hostile, 
organizations,  they  too  often  wasted  their  forces  in  mutual 
criminations  and  recriminations,  which  should  have  been  com 
bined  against  the  common  foe. 

The  American  and  Foreign  Antislavery  Society  and  its  affil 
iated  societies  contained  many  men  of  eminence  and  worth. 
Many  of  their  members  were  connected  with  Christian 
churches  and  benevolent  associations.  Fully  aware  of  the 
moral  power  of  these  organizations  over  the  opinions  and 
convictions  of  the  people,  the  latter  sought  both  to  absolve 
them  from  all  complicity  with  slavery  and  to  persuade  them  to 
bear  their  testimony  against  it.  In  church  conference  and 
convocation,  in  missionary  meetings  and  on  anniversary  occa 
sions,  they  pleaded  the  cause  of  humanity  as  an  essential  part 
of  the  gospel  itself.  Nor  were  their  efforts  without  avail, 
though  the  full  results  they  aimed  at  were  not  secured.  Many 
churches  adopted  their  views,  antislavery  churches  were  in 
some  instances  formed,  and  missionary  and  benevolent  asso- 


560       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

ciations  were  organized  on  the  basis  of  no  fellowship  with 
slaveholders ;  the  most  important  of  them  being  the  American 
Missionary  Association,  which  was  formed  in  1846. 

Believing,  too,  in  the  necessity  of  political  action,  they  con 
stituted  an  important  and  controlling  element  of  the  Liberty 
party.  In  the  use  of  such  means,  in  addition  to  their  asso 
ciated  efforts  in  connection  with  the  new  organization  and  its 
branches,  they  were  active  and  vigilant  in  their  attempts  to 
infuse  their  sentiments  through  these  channels  of  influence 
into  the  public  mind.  Nor  were  these  varied  efforts  without 
corresponding  results,  in  no  degree  to  be  measured  by  the 
number  and  direct  efficiency  of  the  societies  which  were 
formed  or  kept  alive.  The  character  and  influence  of  these 
men  in  their  other  relations  of  life,  domestic,  social,  and  eccle 
siastical,  were  often,  without  doubt,  more  effective  and  diffusive 
than  their  action  in  these  distinctive  and  associated  efforts. 

The  Abolitionists  who  adhered  to  the  American  Antislavery 
Society  after  the  separation,  claiming  that  their  platform  was 
as  wide  as  the  world  and  as  broad  as  humanity,  and  that  they 
stood  aloof  from  all  political  associations  and  all  sectarian 
biases,  asserted  that  it  was  their  task  to  enlighten  the  public 
mind  and  awaken  the  public  conscience.  Believing  that 
slavery  could  not  be  abolished  until  a  change  was  wrought  in 
the  popular  mind  and  heart,  they  proclaimed  it  to  be  their 
business,  in  the  words  of  Edmund  Quincy,  "  to  sound  forever 
the  tale  of  the  wrongs  of  the  slave,  and  their  own  guilt  in  the 
ears  of  the  people,  whether  they  will  hear  or  whether  they  will 
forbear.  Our  accents  may  sometimes  seem  to  be  lost  in  the 
roar  of  the  world's  business  or  of  politics,  but  their  still  small 
voice  will  make  itself  heard  in  the  secret  chambers  of  the 
heart.  We  may  never  be  numerous  ;  but  we  shall  be  always 
enough  to  make  the  general  conscience  uneasy,  until  it  has 
purified  the  nation  of  its  guilt.  Our  conflict  is  one  in  which 
success  is  not  in  proportion  to  the  numbers,  but  to  the  faith 
fulness,  of  those  who  engage  in  it."  To  the  task  of  carrying 
into  effect  these  plans,  and  of  endeavoring  to  make  these 
benign  and  lofty  aspirations  realities,  they  devoted  themselves 
with  unflagging  resolution.  If  their  forms  of  expression  and 


ANTISLAVERY  FAIRS.  561 

modes  of  action  do  not  always  command  assent,  few  will  be 
found  to  withhold  from  them  the  meed  of  an  earnest  zeal  and 
an  honest  purpose. 

By  the  labors  of  their  few  but  earnest  presses,  of  their  elo 
quent  orators,  by  their  conventions  in  city  and  country,  by 
meetings  in  church  and  hall,  they  endeavored  to  scatter  broad 
cast  the  seeds  of  living  truth,  the  indestructible  principles  of 
human  rights.  Openly  welcoming  women  to  their  ranks,  they 
were  cheered  and  sustained  by  the  presence,  sympathy,  and 
hearty  co-operation  of  a  circle  of  ladies  of  Boston  and  vicin 
ity  of  culture  and  social  position,  of  stainless  purity  and 
active  philanthropy,  who  rendered,  by  presence  and  purse, 
speech  and  pen,  essential  service  to  the  cause.  Among  the 
agencies  employed  with  signal  success  was  that  of  Fairs.  The 
first  was  held  in  Boston,  December  16,  1834,  under  the  lead 
of  Mrs.  Ellis  Gray  Loring,  Mrs.  Lydia  Maria  Child,  and  a  few 
others  of  kindred  sympathies.  As  the  Abolitionists  were  then 
shut  out  from  the  halls  and  churches  of  Boston,  they  were 
compelled  to  hold  it  at  the  office  of  the  Massachusetts  ^.nti- 
slavery  Society  on  Washington  Street.  Held  in  behalf  of  an 
unpopular  cause,  that  often  subjected  its  advocates  and  sup 
porters  to  social  proscription  and  insult,  and  in  most  unattrac 
tive  quarters,  it  was  deemed  a  success,  although  the  sum-total 
of  its  receipts  was  but  three  hundred  and  sixty  dollars. 

The  next  was  the  year  of  mobs,  the  black  year  on  the 
calendar  of  Boston,  when  its  men  of  property  and  standing 
were  not  above  the  outrage  of  breaking  up  a  meeting  of  anti- 
slavery  women,  and  of  assaulting  a  young  man  whose  only 
offence  was  fidelity  to  the  oppressed.  To  hold  an  antislavery 
fair  at  such  a  time  was  a  hazardous  experiment.  The  Female 
Antislavery  Society,  which  had  been,  a  few  weeks  before, 
mobbed  and  driven  from  its  room,  adopted  and  resolved  to 
hold  it,  although  no  hall  could  be  procured,  and  it  was  not 
deemed  safe  to  advertise  it.  Henry  Chapman  offered  to  them 
his  private  dwelling,  and  though  the  colored  people  did  not 
dare  to  attend,  for  fear  that  their  presence  might  increase  the 
danger,  it  was  measurably  successful,  and  its  managers  were 
encouraged.  These  Fairs  gradually  increased  in  interest  and 

71 


562       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

success  until  the  seventh,  in  1840,  yielded  the  sum  of  two  thou 
sand  dollars.  Such  an  advance  had  been  made  that  in  1841 
they  were  enabled  to  procure  a  large  and  attractive  hall,  and 
secure  from  home  and  foreign  contributions  a  fine  display  of 
articles  of  fancy  and  utility.  Although  a  cloud  of  opprobrium 
still  rested  upon  the  cause  and  its  friends,  persons  in  the  more 
fashionable  circles  began  to  extend  their  presence  and  patron 
age.  During  this  year,  too,  they  were  specially  gratified  by  a 
visit  from  Lord  Morpeth  of  England,  afterward  Earl  of  Car 
lisle  and  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  who  thus  gave  expression 
of  his  sympathy  for  the  object  of  their  efforts. 

Faneuil  Hall  was  asked  for  and  obtained,  and  these  annual 
gatherings  were  appropriately  held  in  the  Cradle  of  Liberty 
for  many  years.  Valuable-  contributions  were  received  from 
abroad,  especially  from  the  antislavery  women  of  England, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland.  They  were  visited  and  patronized  by 
increasing  numbers,  and  were  continued  until  slavery  finally 
disappeared.  Their  receipts  contributed  largely  to  the  support 
of  the  American  Antislavery  Society,  and  of  its  organ  the 
"  Antislavery  Standard."  What  became  an  important  feature 
was  the  publication  of  a  volume  entitled  "  The  Liberty  Bell," 
of  which  fifteen  numbers  appeared.  It  was  edited  by  Mrs. 
Maria  W.  Chapman,  and  received  the  contributions,  in  prose 
and  verse,  of  many  of  the  most  gifted  writers  in  England 
and  America.  Its  very  list  of  contributors  was  an  assur 
ance  that  the  volumes  which  contained  their  writings  were 
replete  with  conclusive  reasonings,  glowing  thoughts,  and  ten 
der  appeals  which  could  not  fail  to  affect  the  thoughts  and 
feelings  of  the  people,  and  help  forward  the  sacred  cause. 

While  in  no  other  place  except  Boston  did  Fairs  become  an 
"  institution,"  they  were  held  in  various  parts  of  the  country. 
They  were  early  held  in  Philadelphia  under  the  direction  and 
impulse  of  Lucretia  Mott,  Mary  Grew,  and  others  like  minded. 
They,  too,  were  more  or  less  frequently  resorted  to  in  other 
cities  and  towns,  not  only  in  New  England,  but  in  the  Middle 
and  Western  States.  Indeed,  among  the  multiplied  agencies 
that  were  adopted  during  those  years  of  weary  toil  to  effect  the 
desired  change  in  the  public  sentiment,  this  agency  was  often 


ADDRESS  TO  PRESIDENT  TYLER.  563 

and  in  many  places  put  in  requisition.  Slight  record  can  be 
made  of  the  labors  of  these  noble  women,  and  their  names 
may  never  be  known  to  the  lowly  ones  for  whom  they  toiled. 
But  on  the  tablets  of  their  own  souls  were  inscribed  in  endur 
ing  characters  these  lessons  of  love  and  self-sacrifice,  truth 
and  trust,  which  made  them  wiser  and  better,  however  much 
or  however  little  their  efforts  may  have  advanced  the  common 
cause.  May  not,  however,  their  patient  and  persistent  labors 
have  prepared  them  and  stimulated  others  of  their  country 
women  for  those  exhibitions  of  sublime  and  heroic  devotion, 
at  home  and  in  the  camps  and  hospitals  of  the  army,  which  so 
signalized  the  late  civil  war  ? 

Among  other  instrumentalities  employed  by  the  members 
of  the  old  organization  was  the  adoption  of  two  addresses, 
both  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Garrison,  one  to  the  slaves  of  the 
South,  and  the  other  to  President  Tyler  on  the  occasion  of 
his  visit  to  Massachusetts  at  the  completion  of  the  Bunker  Hill 
monument.  The  slaves  were  assured  that  the  word  had  gone 
forth  that  they  should  be  delivered  from  their  chains.  They 
were  invited  to  transform  themselves  from  things  into  men  by 
flight  from  their  masters ;  and  the  pledge  was  sacredly  given  that 
they  should  find  succor  and  protection.  "  If  you  come  to  us," 
said  the  address, "  and  are  hungry,  we  will  feed  you  ;  if  thirsty, 
we  will  give  you  drink  ;  if  naked,  we  will  clothe  you ;  if  sick,  we 
will  minister  to  your  necessities ;  if  in  prison,  we  will  visit 
you ;  if  you  need  a  hiding-place  from  the  face  of  the  pursuer, 
we  will  provide  one  that  even  blood-hounds  will  not  scent  out." 

President  Tyler  was  requested  to  liberate  his  slaves.  He 
was  reminded  that,  though  he  occupied  the  highest  office  in 
the  land,  subscribed  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  be 
lieved  in  the  Christian  religion,  and  was  then  on  a  visit  to  cele 
brate  "  the  memories  of  those  who  bled  and  died  in  the  cause 
of  human  liberty,"  he  was  "  yet  a  slaveholder."  He  was  re 
minded  of  the  influence  which  such  a  beneficent  example  as  the 
emancipation  of  his  own  slaves  would  exert  toward  the  eman 
cipation  of  three  millions  held  in  bondage,  and  they  implored 
him  to  perform  that  great  duty.  "  It  might,"  said  the  address, 
"  subject  you  temporarily  to  the  ridicule  of  the  heartless,  the 


564       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

curses  of  the  profane,  the  contempt  of  the  vulgar,  the  scorn 
of  the  proud,  the  rage  of  the  selfish,  the  hostility  of  the  power 
ful  ;  but  it  would  assuredly  secure  to  you  the  applause  and  ad 
miration  of  the  truly  great  and  good,  and  render  your  name 
illustrious  to  the  latest  posterity."  Such  advice  from  despised 
Abolitionists  President  Tyler  of  course  disdained  to  follow. 
Had  he  accepted  it,  however,  and  acted  up  to  its  benign  pre 
cepts,  he  would  never  have  linked  his  name  so  indissolubly 
with  the  Texas  iniquity ;  he  would  have  saved  his  character 
from  the  taint  of  treason,  and  himself  from  being  remembered 
as  the  only  traitor  President. 

Another  instrumentality  which  they  adopted  was  the  hold 
ing  a  hundred  conventions  throughout  the  free  States,  mainly 
in  the  Northwest,  at  which  one  or  more  of  their  popular  ora 
tors  were  present. 

Sometimes  that  oppression  which  maketh  a  man  mad  moved 
from  their  propriety  the  friends  of  the  oppressed  and  those 
who  labored  for  his  redemption.  His  sad  fate  and  cruel 
wrongs,  the  indifference  of  the  people,  and  the  coldness  of 
the  churches  during  these  years,  did  not  a  little  to  imbitter 
Abolitionists  and  impel  them  to  the  utterance  of  words  and 
the  adoption  of  measures  which  were  neither  wise  nor  in  har 
mony  with  the  very  doctrine  of  equal  rights  of  which  they  were 
such  sturdy  defenders.  Especially  was  this  true  of  some  of  that 
class  which  felt  constrained  to  come  out  from  the  churches, 
and  to  separate  themselves  from  the  political  parties  of  their 
day.  Impatient  at  what  they  regarded  the  wicked  silence  of  the 
pulpit  concerning  the  wrongs  of  the  slave,  and  provoked  at  their 
own  general  exclusion  from  the  Christian  temples  of  the  land, 
in  which  they  sought  to  plead  his  cause,  they  sometimes  entered 
those  sanctuaries  unbidden,  and,  in  the  presence  of  congrega 
tions  assembled  for  religious  worship,  undertook  themselves 
to  supply  the  lack  of  service  of  those  who,  professing  to  hold 
the  poorest  of  men  their  brethren,  children  of  a  common  Father, 
had  no  plea  for  the  bondman,  no  rebuke  for  his  oppressor. 

Among  the  most  prominent  and  persistent  of  those  who 
adopted  this  policy  were  Stephen  S.  Foster  and  Thomas  P. 
Beach.  The  latter  entered  the  meeting-houses  of  the  Friends 


VISIT   OF  ABOLITIONISTS  TO  ENGLAND.  565 

in  Lynn  and  of  the  Baptists  in  Danvers,  was  forcibly  ejected, 
arrested,  and  fined  for  a  violation  of  the  law  against  the  dis 
turbance  of  religious  worship.  In  default  of  his  fine,  which 
he  would  neither  pay  himself  nor  allow  his  friends  to  pay,  he 
was  sent  to  the  Newburyport  jail,  where  he  lay  three  months. 
He  published  there  a  little  paper  called  "  The  Voice  from  the 
Jail,"  which  increased  the  popular  sympathy  in  his  behalf, 
and  made  the  shortcomings  of  the  churches  more  apparent. 
But,  though  Mr.  Beach  was  a  man  of  character  and  culture, 
unquestioned  integrity  and  conscientiousness,  he  could  not 
but  fail  to  convince  many,  even  among  Abolitionists,  of  the 
wisdom  of  his  course,  or  the  propriety  of  such  modes  of  action, 
though  adopted  for  a  good  purpose. 

Several  of  their  leading  advocates  visited  England  and  there 
pleaded  the  cause,  arraigning  their  country  and  its  institutions, 
its  political  parties  and  sectarian  organizations,  as  recreant  to 
the  cause  of  freedom  and  the  claims  of  humanity.  Nor  were 
they  and  their  British  coadjutors  any  less  ready  to  criticise 
and  censure  the  shortcomings  which  there  met  their  eye. 
The  prominent  leaders  of  the  Anti-Corn-Law  League  were  in 
close  and  friendly  correspondence  with  Calhoun  and  McDuffie, 
hailing  these  champions  of  slavery  as  distinguished  friends  of 
free  trade,  and  they  denounced  the  inconsistency  of  recogniz 
ing  "  the  enemies  of  personal  liberty  as  the  friends  of  com 
mercial  liberty."  They  found,  too,  the  Free  Church  of  Scot 
land  receiving  contributions  from  the  slaveholding  churches 
of  the  South,  and  they  demanded  that  they  should  return  the 
price  of  blood.  Henry  C.  Wright  was  especially  persistent, 
by  voice  and  pen,  in  his  reiterated  demands  to  "  send  back 
the  blood-stained  money." 

Though  the  money  was  not  sent  back,  and  Southern  co 
operation  in  the  cause  of  free  trade  was  still  welcomed,  there 
was  manifested  a  growing  interest  in  the  English  mind  on  the 
subject  of  their  mission.  Nor  was  this  increase  due  to  anti- 
slavery  efforts  alone.  As  often  before  and  since,  the  slave 
holders  themselves  added  to  its  intensity.  Among  their  doings 
which  then  excited  deep  feeling  were  the  trial,  conviction,  and 
sentence  to  death,  in  South  Carolina,  of  John  L.  Brown,  for 


566        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

the  sole  offence  of  aiding  a  female  slave  to  escape.  When  the 
news  reached  England,  Lord  Brougham  brought  the  subject  be 
fore  the  House  of  Lords.  A  memorial,  signed  by  Rev.  Wil 
liam  Jay,  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States,  was  published. 
The  ministers  and  office-bearers  of  Christian  churches,  and 
benevolent  societies  in  Lancashire  and  London  addressed  a 
memorial  to  the  churches  of  South  Carolina,  and  to  Americans 
generally.  It  was  signed  by  thirteen  hundred  of  the  most 
eminent  of  the  ministers  and  elders,  among  whom  was  the 
venerable  Clarkson.  Petitions  were  sent  from  England  to 
the  governor  of  South  Carolina,  praying  for  the  release  of 
Brown.  A  feeling  of  horror  and  indignation  was  felt  and 
freely  expressed  at  the  enormity  of  such  a  penalty  for  such  an 
oifence.  Similar  though  far  less  feeling  was  exhibited  in  the 
United  States,  but  it  was  owing  mainly  to  British  efforts  that 
the  governor  was  induced  to  commute  the  sentence. 

By  these  and  other  modes  of  action  the  leading  and  active 
members  of  the  antislavery  societies  prosecuted  their  work, 
sometimes  with  and  sometimes  without  their  aid.  In  earnest 
to  secure  the  object  in  view,  and  regarding  organizations  as 
only  means  to  an  end,  they  did  not  cease  to  seek  the  end, 
though  that  means  might  be  wanting  or  ineffective  for  their 
purpose.  For,  as  distinctive  organizations,  these  societies  soon 
began  to  diminish  in  number  and  efficiency.  This  was  ad 
mitted,  as  early  as  1844,  by  Parker  Pillsbury,  in  the  "  Herald 
of  Freedom."  It  was  then  said  by  him  that  they  had  but  a 
name  to  live,  that  "  the  annual  meetings  had  been  a  disgrace 
to  humanity,  and  a  scandal  to  the  antislavery  cause."  Mr. 
Pillsbury  was  apt  to  take  gloomy  views  of  affairs,  and  some 
times  to  express  himself  in  extravagant  and  exaggerated  lan 
guage.  And  yet  there  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  at  that  time 
they  had  largely  diminished  in  numbers.  At  the  time  of  the 
disruption  it  was  estimated  that  there  were  nearly  two  thou 
sand  antislavery  societies  in  the  United  States,  with  a  mem 
bership  of  some  two  hundred  thousand.  Immediately  after 
the  organization  of  the  American  and  Foreign  Antislavery  So 
ciety,  auxiliary  societies  were  also  formed.  But  they  were 
never  very  effective,  and  most  of  their  members  labored  for  the 


SPREAD   OF  ANTISLAVERY  SENTIMENTS.  567 

common  cause  through  political  and  ecclesiastical  associations. 
Indeed,  within  five  years  of  the  disruption  large  numbers  of 
antislavery  societies  had  ceased  to  exist,  and  their  membership 
had  greatly  diminished.  Some  of  them,  however,  especially 
the  American,  New  England,  Massachusetts,  Ohio,  and  Penn 
sylvania  societies  were  then  strong  and  effective. 

But  the  decrease  of  antislavery  societies,  and  the  diminu 
tion  of  the  numbers,  interest,  and  zeal  of  many  that  remained, 
were  no  indication  of  the  decline  of  antislavery  ideas,  but  an 
evidence,  rather,  that  the  antislavery  cause  was  assuming  larger 
dimensions,  and  that  the  sympathies  and  views  of  many  found 
expression  in  other  forms  and  by  other  modes  of  action.  The 
startling  issues  growing  out  of  the  Texas  plot,  the  increasing  ag 
gressions  of  the  Slave  Power,  brought  the  various  questions  per 
taining  to  slavery  to  the  hearts  and  homes  of  hundreds  of  thou 
sands  who  had  heretofore  given  little  heed  to  abolition  move 
ments.  They  broadened  and  deepened  the  public  interest,  so 
that  the  conflicts  of  opinion  and  the  adoption  of  policies  passed, 
in  a  large  degree,  from  the  arena  and  control  of  antislavery 
societies  to  the  wider  domain  of  general  debate  and  political 
combinations.  Matters  involving  both  slavery  and  antislavery 
were  no  longer  mere  problems  of  civil  polity  and  reform,  to  be 
calmly  considered  in  the  study  or  on  the  platform  as  abstract 
questions  of  right  and  wrong  merely ;  but  they  became  the 
momentous  issues  of  the  hour,  instinct  with  life  and  impor 
tance,  involving  both  peril  and  guilt  on  the  one  hand,  duty  and 
safety  on  the  other.  They  forced  themselves  upon  the  atten 
tion  of  statesmen  and  into  the  assemblages  of  the  people  ;  they 
entered  the  halls  of  State  legislatures  and  the  chambers  of  Con 
gress.  They  appealed  to  the  public  eye  and  ear  in  the  columns 
of  the  press,  in  the  pulpit,  and  in  meetings  of  religious  assem 
blies,  and  at  the  hustings  of  political  parties.  Fiction  made 
them  the  theme  of  her  most  successful  efforts,  and  poetry  conse 
crated  to  them  the  magic  of  its  numbers.  And  thus  the  subject 
which  had  been  discussed  only  by  the  few  became  the  theme 
of  the  many,  and  that  which  had  been  confined  to  scattered 
circles  overspread  the  land,  until  that  land  trembled  under  the 
tread  of  armies  and  was  reddened  with  the  blood  of  civil  war. 


CHAPTER    XL. 

NO   UNION  WITH  SLAVEHOLDERS. 

Meeting  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society  in  1842.  —  Debate  on  the  Issue  of 
No  Union  with  Slaveholders.  —  Meeting  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery  So 
ciety.  —  Protest  against  the  Constitution  by  Mr.  Foster.  —  Mr.  Garrison's 
Proposition.  —  Meeting  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society  in  1844.  —.The 
Doctrine  of  No  Union  with  Slaveholders  adopted.  —  Protests.  —  Address  to 
the  Abolitionists.  —  Letter  of  Francis  Jackson.  — Gerrit  Smith's  Letter  to  John 
G.  Whittier.  —  Replies.  —  Disunion  Policy  adopted. 

IN  tracing  the  history  of  the  antislavery  struggle  and  in 
forming  an  estimate  of  the  utterances  and  proposed  measures 
of  the  men  engaged  in  it,  it  should  never  be  lost  sight  of  that 
they  were  necessarily  ignorant  of  much  which  is  now  seen 
clearly.  What,  therefore,  may  now  with  present  lights  seem 
incongruous  and  extravagant  would  very  likely  appear  emi 
nently  legitimate  and  proper,  did  the  critic  of  to-day  have  no 
more  facts  within  his  reach  than  did  they  who,  amid  its  dark 
ness  and  threatening  dangers,  were  grappling  with  the  momen 
tous  problem  a  generation  ago. 

After  the  disruption  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society, 
those  who  adhered  to  the  original  organization  evinced  a  more 
determined  opposition  to  political  action  than  ever.  Espe 
cially  was  this  true  of  a  small  and  active  body  of  those  who 
had  accepted  the  extreme  doctrines  of  non-resistance.  They 
were  not  only  opposed  to  acting  with  existing  political  parties, 
either  with  or  without  antislavery  pledges,  but  to  the  formation 
of  any  organization  for  the  purpose  of  such  action.  They 
assumed  that  personal  consistency  and  duty  to  the  slave 
required  that  they  should  not  give  voluntary  support  to  the 
government  by  holding  office  themselves,  or  by  voting  for 
others  for  that  purpose.  Some  were  in  favor  of  a  dissolution 
of  the  Union,  and  others  were  fast  tending  in  that  direction. 


NO  UNION  WITH  SLAVEHOLDERS.  569 

The  society  was  to  hold  its  annual  meeting  in  New  York  in 
May,  1842.  Mr.  Garrison,  in  urging  a  full  attendance,  sug 
gested  that  among  the  questions  coming  up  for  consideration, 
the  first  in  importance  would  be  one  concerning  "  the  duty  of 
making  the  repeal  of  the  union  between  the  North  and  the 
South  the  grand  rallying-point,  until  it  be  accomplished  or 
slavery  cease  to  pollute  our  soil."  Several  of  the  New  York 
presses  commented  upon  this  declaration  in  language  calcu 
lated  to  excite  popular  violence,  and  Judge  Noah  charged  the 
grand  jury  to  indict  the  agitators  if  such  discussions  tended 
to  a  breach  of  the  peace.  But  neither  the  comments  of  the 
press  nor  the  charge  of  the  judge  prevented  a  free  and  full 
discussion  of  that  question.  A  resolution  was  adopted  recom 
mending  voting  Abolitionists  to  submit  to  candidates  for  office 
the  question  :  Are  you  in  favor  of  the  abrogation  of  every  pro 
vision  in  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States 
requiring  the  aid  of  the  people  or  their  agents  in  holding 
human  beings  in  slavery  ? 

To  a  resolution  setting  forth  that  inasmuch  as  neither  the 
people  of  the  United  States  nor  the  Abolitionists  had  ever 
asked  for  the  abrogation  of  the  slaveholding  features  of  the 
Constitution,  there  was  no  reasonable  ground  for  asking  for  a 
dissolution  of  the  Union,  Henry  C.  Wright  offered  as  a  sub 
stitute  that  the  cause  of  human  rights  does  imperatively  de 
mand  this  dissolution.  Upon  this  resolution  and  substitute 
there  sprang  up  an  earnest  and  able  debate,  which  ran  through 
two  days,  in  which  Mr.  Wright,  Wendell  Phillips,  Abby  Kelley, 
Charles  Lenox  Remond,  Thomas  Earle,  and  Ellis  Gray  Loring 
participated.  They  were  not,  however,  ready  for  action,  and 
the  resolution  and  substitute  were  laid  upon  the  table.  But 
at  the  eleventh  annual  meeting  of  the  Massachusetts  Anti- 
slavery  Society,  in  1843,  a  resolution  was  reported  by  Wendell 
Phillips,  asserting  that  no  Abolitionist  could  consistently  de 
mand  less  than  "  a  dissolution  of  the  union  between  North 
ern  freedom  and  Southern  slavery,  as  essential  to  the  aboli 
tion  of  the  one  and  the  preservation  of  the  other."  This 
resolution  was  amended,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Garrison,  so  as  to 
read  that  the  compact  which  exists  between  the  North  and  the 

72 


670       RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

South  is  "  a  covenant  with  death  and  an  agreement  with  hell," 
involving  both  parties  in  atrocious  criminalities,  and  that  it 
should  be  immediately  annulled. 

At  the  twelfth  annual  meeting  of  the  Massachusetts  Anti- 
slavery  Society,  Stephen  S.  Foster  presented  a  protest  against 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  against  the  union 
of  the  Northern  and  Southern  States,  with  the  reasons  for  this 
extreme  measure  fully  enumerated.  In  the  preamble  was  set 
forth  the  declaration  that  the  officers  and  members  of  the 
Massachusetts  Antislavery  Society  "  now  publicly  abjure  our 
allegiance  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and  the 
Union,  and  place  the  broad  seal  of  our  reprobation  upon  this 
unnatural  and  unholy  alliance  between  liberty  and  slavery." 
The  obligations  of  the  Union  were  declared  to  be  utterly  null 
and  void  ;  the  pledge  was  given  to  seek  its  peaceful  dissolu 
tion  ;  and  the  friends  of  freedom  in  the  North  were  invited 
thereafter  to  vote  for  repeal,  instead  of  casting  their  votes  for 
Abolitionists  for  office. 

Mr.  Foster  was  followed  by  Mr.  Garrison,  who  also  presented 
a  preamble  embodying  the  same  propositions  in  briefer  and 
more  concise  form,  closing  with  a  resolution  declaring  in  sub 
stance  that  the  national  compact  was  in  principle  and  practice 
an  insupportable  despotism ;  from  its  inception,  before  God, 
null  and  void  ;  and  that  it  was  the  right  and  duty  of  the  friends 
of  impartial  liberty  to  withdraw  their  allegiance,  and  effect, 
if  possible,  its  overthrow  by  peaceful  revolution.  These  reso 
lutions  were  discussed  with  great  earnestness,  the  discus 
sion  being  held  in  the  evening,  in  the  State  House.  In  both 
Faneuil  Hall  and  the  capitol  the  speeches  of  Garrison,  Foster, 
Phillips,  Quincy,  and  Burleigh  in  favor  of  the  immediate  dis 
solution  of  the  Union  were  applauded.  But  no  vote  was 
reached. 

The  questions  of  receding  from  the  government,  and  of  plac 
ing  on  the  antislavery  banners  the  war-cry  of  "  No  union  with 
slaveholders,"  were  carried  into  the  meeting  of  the  American 
Antislavery  Society,  in  New  York,  early  in  May,  1844.  On 
the  proposition  by  Mr.  Garrison,  the  declaration  was  made, 
after  earnest  debate,  that  "  henceforth,  until  slavery  be  abol- 


NO  UNION  WITH  SLAVEHOLDERS. 


571 


,  ished,  the  watchword,  the  rallying  cry,  the  motto  on  the  ban 
ner  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society  shall  be,  "  No  Union 
with  Slaveholders."  The  resolution  introduced  by  Mr.  Phillips 
was  also  adopted,  declaring  that  secession  from  the  govern 
ment  was  the  duty  of  every  Abolitionist,  and  that  to  take 
office  or  to  vote  for  another  to  hold  office  under  the  Constitu 
tion  violated  antislavery  principles,  and  made  such  voter  an 
abettor  of  the  slaveholder  in  his  sin. 

This  position  was  not  taken  by  the  American  Antislavery 
Society,  however,  without  the  most  strenuous  and  persistent 
opposition.  William  A.  White,  then  a  young,  earnest,  and 
active  member  from  Massachusetts,  entered  his  protest,  and 
withdrew  his  name  from  the  roll  of  the  society.  A  protest  was 
presented,  signed  by  Ellis  Gray  Loring,  David  Lee  Child, 
Joseph  Southwick,  and  others,  declaring  that  this  "  novel  test " 
prescribed  for  the  members  was  "  intolerant  and  presumptuous 
in  its  spirit  and  tendency  "  ;  that  it  narrowed  the  antislavery 
platform ;  that  it  was  "  not  required  by  enlightened  con 
science  "  ;  was  "  impracticable,"  and  "  calculated  justly  to  im 
pair  the  character  and  influence  of  the  society."  A  protest 
was  also  entered  by  Thomas  Earle  and  Arnold  Buffum.  They 
protested  on  the  ground  that  it  was  in  effect  the  exclusion  of 
all  but  non-resistants  from  the  society ;  that  it  was  a  loss  of 
power ;  that  it  assumed  the  province  of  an  ecclesiastical  tri 
bunal  in  settling  questions  of  conscience,  not  involved  in  the 
original  design  of  the  society  ;  that  it  tended  to  retard  the 
cause  of  emancipation ;  and  that  it  proposed  to  dissolve  the 
American  Union  without  petitioning  for  a  change  of  the  objec 
tionable  features  of  the  Constitution. 

Two  weeks  after  this  position  was  taken,  an  address  was 
issued  announcing  the  above  action  and  calling  upon  the 
friends  of  freedom  to  adopt  the  policy  proposed.  It  charged 
that  the  national  compact  was  formed  at  the  expense  of  liberty ; 
that  it  favored  a  slaveholding  oligarchy  and  an  insupportable 
despotism ;  that  it  was  at  war  with  God  and  man  ;  that  it 
could  not  be  innocently  supported  ;  and  that  it  deserved  to  be 
immediately  annulled.  In  behalf  of  the  society,  they  called 
upon  their  fellow-citizens  who  believed  it  to  be  "  right  to  obey 


572       RISE   AND    FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN   AMERICA. 

God  rather  than  man  to  declare  themselves  peaceful  revolu 
tionists,  and  to  unite  with  them  under  the  stainless  banner  of 
liberty,  having  for  its  motto, '  Equal  Rights  for  All,  —  No  Union 
with  Slaveholders  ! ' "  "  Up,"  they  say,  "  with  the  banner  of 
revolution  !  Not  to  shed  blood,  not  to  injure  the  person  or 
estate  of  any  oppressor,  not  by  force  of  arms  to  resist  any 
law,  not  to  countenance  a  servile  insurrection,  not  to  wield 
any  carnal  weapons !  No;  ours  must  be  a  bloodless  strife,  ex 
cepting  our  blood  be  shed,  —  for  we  aim,  as  did  Christ  our 
leader,  not  to  destroy  men's  lives,  but  to  save  them  ;  to  over 
come  evil  with  good  ;  to  conquer  through  suffering  for  right 
eousness'  sake  ;  to  set  the  captive  free  by  the  potency  of  truth." 
It  declined  to  define  or  describe  the  form  of  government  which 
should  succeed  the  present,  leaving  that  matter  for  time  to  de 
termine.  But  it  expressed  the  opinion  that  when  the  people 
were  regenerated  and  turned  from  iniquity,  when  they  ceased 
from  oppression  and  established  liberty,  what  was  then  frag 
mentary  would  in  due  time  be  "  crystallized  and  shine  like  a 
gem  set  in  the  heavens  for  all  coming  ages." 

Near  the  close  of  the  month  the  New  England  Antislavery 
Society  adopted  the  same  policy,  for  substantially  the  same 
reasons,  by  nearly  a  unanimous  vote.  But,  as  in  New  York, 
this  new  position  was  not  taken  without  earnest  protests.  One 
signed  by  William  A.  White  and  Richard  Hildreth,  the  histo 
rian,  and  concurred  in  by  George  Bradburn,  was  presented 
against  the  adoption  of  these  resolutions.  It  set  forth  that 
consistency  required  of  all  persons  voting  for  them  an  absolute 
renunciation  of  all  the  advantages  derived  from  the  govern 
ment  ;  that  the  repudiation  of  the  Constitution  and  the  pur 
posed  dissolution  of  the  Union  did  not  tend  in  the  slightest 
degree  to  peaceful  abolition ;  that  abjuration  of  the  Constitu 
tion  did  not  relieve  those  persons  so  abjuring  it  of  any  obliga 
tions  and  responsibilities  they  were  under  as  citizens,  so  long 
as  they  remained  in  the  country. 

A  protest  was  entered,  too,  by  Joseph  Southwick,  a  Boston 
merchant,  and  an  early  and  devoted  friend  of  the  slave.  He 
protested,  for  the  reason  that  their  adoption  impaired  the  efforts 
of  Abolitionists,  protracted  the  time  for  the  removal  of  slavery, 


NO  UNION  WITH  SLAVEHOLDERS. 


573 


contracted  the  antislavery  platform ;  and  he  affirmed  that  he 
could  not  live  in  the  country  under  the  present  Constitution, 
and  pay  taxes  for  the  support  of  the  government,  if  he  adopted 
them. 

In  spite,  however,  of  these  and  other  protests,  State  and  local 
societies  hastened  to  accept  and  proclaim  the  new  doctrine. 
Francis  Jackson,  the  president  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislav 
ery  Society,  addressed  a  long  letter  to  Governor  Briggs,  asking 
him  to  receive  his  resignation  of  the  office  of  justice  of  the 
peace.  In  this  letter  he  set  forth,  at  length  and  in  detail, 
what  he  deemed  to  be  the  demoralizing  influences  of  the  pro 
visions  of  the  Constitution  which  recognized  and  protected 
slavery.  "  To  me,"  he  said,  "  it  appears  that  the  virus  of 
slavery,  introduced  into  the  Constitution  of  our  body  politic  by 
a  few  slight  punctures,  has  now  so  pervaded  and  poisoned  the 
whole  system  of  our  national  government,  that  literally  there 
is  no  health  in  it.  The  only  remedy  that  I  can  see  for  the 
disease  is  to  be  found  in  the  dissolution  of  the  patient."  He 
avowed  that  he  could  no  longer  give  voluntary  assistance  in 
holding  up  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which  had 
become  so  imbecile  for  good  and  so  powerful  for  evil ;  that  he 
withdrew  all  allegiance  to  it ;  and  that  "  henceforth,"  he  said, 
"  it  is  dead  to  me,  and  I  to  it." 

Several  members  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society  not 
only  dissented  from  this  action,  but  took  an  early  occasion  to 
state  their  objections.  George  Bradburn  denounced  it  as  "  a 
wild  crusade  against  voting  under  the  national  Constitution  "  ; 
and  he  announced  that  he  should  avail  himself  of  the  oppor 
tunity  to  act  thereafter  with  the  Liberty  party,  which  he 
regarded  as  "  the  most  efficient  antislavery  instrumentality,  — 
as  the  grand  instrument,  indeed,  by  which  the  institution  of 
slavery  is  to  be  overthrown." 

Gerrit  Smith,  in  a  letter  to  John  G.  Whittier,  affirmed  that 
the  people  of  the  North  were  as  guilty  as  the  people  of  the 
South,  because  they  were  more  aroused  to  the  wickedness  of 
slavery,  and  sinned  against  greater  light.  He  said  that  the 
fact  that  the  nation  in  its  national  capacity  upheld  slavery 
proved  nothing  against  the  Constitution.  Maintaining  that 


574       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

the  Constitution  was  an  antislavery  instrument,  it  needed,  he 
said,  but  to  be  administered  in  consistency  with  its  principles 
to  effectuate  the  immediate  overthrow  of  the  whole  system  of 
slavery.  He  declared  it  to  be  "  a  power  in  the  hands  of  the 
people  which  they  cannot  fling  away  without  making  them 
selves  guilty  of  ingratitude  to  God  and  of  treason  to  the 
slave."  He  regarded  the  Constitution  as  a  shield  given  by 
God  to  be  placed  over  the  head  of  the  slave,  and  a  weapon  for 
fighting  the  battles  of  the  oppressed,  which  had  been  mur 
derously  wielded  on  the  side  of  the  oppressor ;  and  it  is,  he 
said,  "  a  fruit  of  poor  repentance,  if  now,  when  our  hearts  are 
smitten  with  a  sense  of  our  wrong  use  of  this  shield  and 
weapon,  we  shall,  from  our  study  of  ease  and  quiet,  from  our 
desire  to  promote  a  favorite  theory,  or  from  any  other  cause, 
throw  them  away,  instead  of  manfully,  courageously,  perse- 
veringly,  and  therefore  successfully,  putting  them  to  a  right 
use." 

But  Garrison,  Phillips,  Burleigh,  Adin  Ballou,  and  others 
replied  to  all  protests  and  criticisms  with  their  accustomed 
earnestness  and  vigor.  They  persisted  in  the  maintenance 
and  advocacy  of  the  new  theories  and  policy.  The  parent 
society  and  its  affiliated  associations,  having  accepted  this 
position,  made  it  thereafter  the  distinctive  feature  of  their 
organization,  and  the  most  prominent  article  of  their  creed. 
"  No  Union  with  Slaveholders  "  was  the  motto  everywhere  em 
blazoned  on  their  banners.  Disunion  was  their  recognized 
remedy.  Other  antislavery  men  of  whatever  organization 
were  proclaimed  to  be  wanting  in  an  essential  element  of  all 
true  and  effective  opposition.  However  earnest  and  devoted, 
they  were  deemed  inconsistent,  and  their  labors  were  regarded 
as  only  partial,  if  not  wholly  inefficient.  This  general  criti 
cism  embraced  every  class  of  antislavery  men,  and  every  form 
of  antislavery  effort.  From  the  adoption  of  this  policy  of 
disunion  in  1844,  to  the  opening  of  the  Rebellion,  so  persistent 
were  they  in  its  promulgation,  as  the  element  of  all  effective 
effort,  that  the  supporters  of  slavery  seized  upon  that  fact  to 
identify  all  antislavery  men  with  them,  and  to  characterize  all 
opposition  to  slavery  as  disorganizing,  revolutionary,  and  unpa- 


NO  UNION  WITH  SLAVEHOLDERS.  575 

triotic.  It  was  indeed  a  most  potent  weapon  in  the  hands 
of  the  apologists,  perpetualists,  and  propagandists  of  slavery. 
Nor  did  they  cease  its  use  until  their  voices  were  silenced  by 
the  patriotism  of  the  nation,  outraged  as  it  was  by  their  own 
treason  or  acknowledged  complicity  with  it. 


CHAPTER    XLI. 

IMPRISONMENT  OP  COLORED   SEAMEN. 

Imprisonment  in  South  Carolina.  —  Laws  of  Louisiana.  —  Resolutions  of  Massa 
chusetts.  — The  Governor  authorized  to  appoint  Agents  to  defend  Colored  Sea 
men.  —  Appointment  of  Mr.  Hoar.  —  Excitement  in  South  Carolina.  —  Action 
of  Governor  Hammond.  —  Resolutions  of  South  Carolina  Legislature.  —  Fines 
and  Imprisonments  imposed  upon  Persons  that  defend  Negroes.  —  Indignation 
at  Charleston.  —  Action  of  the  Authorities.  —  Mr.  Hoar  forced  to  leave  the 
State.  —  Mr.  Hubbard's  Mission  to  New  Orleans.  —  Compelled  to  leave.  — 
Petitions  presented  to  Congress  by  Mr.  Winthrop.  —  Reports  of  Hoar  and 
Hubbard.  —  Message  of  the  Governor.  —  Action  of  the  Legislature. 

AMONG  the  aggressive  and  oppressive  measures  of  the  slave- 
holding  States  were  the  arrests  and  imprisonments,  the  fines, 
whippings,  and  selling  into  slavery  of  free  colored  men,  guilty 
of  no  offence  but  entering  Southern  ports  in  the  prosecution 
of  their  lawful  callings. 

In  1820  South  Carolina  passed  an  act  to  restrain  the  eman 
cipation  of  slaves,  and  to  prevent  free  persons  of  color  from 
entering  the  State.  This  act  was  followed  by  several  others 
of  like  character  and  with  more  stringent  provisions.  These 
acts  bore  with  great  severity  upon  colored  persons  employed 
on  board  vessels  entering  her  harbors.  They  were  arrested, 
forcibly  taken  out  of  their  vessels,  and  imprisoned.  A  case 
was  taken  into  one  of  the  State  courts,  and  a  discharge 
demanded,  on  the  ground  that  such  laws  were  unconstitu 
tional  ;  but,  that  court  holding  the  law  to  be  constitutional, 
an  appeal  was  taken  to  the  highest  tribunal  of  the  State. 
After  argument,  the  court  being  divided  in  opinion,  the  case 
was  suspended,  and  the  prisoners  were  still  held  in  custody. 

The  petitions  of  twenty-six  masters  of  vessels  were  pre 
sented  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  by  Mr.  Sergeant 
of  Pennsylvania,  in  the  winter  of  1823,  setting  forth  that  these 


IMPRISONMENT  OF  COLORED  SEAMEN.          577 

acts  destroyed  the  liberty  of  freemen,  interfered  with  the  free 
dom  of  navigation  and  with  the  employment  of  seamen. 
They  asked  Congress  to  relieve  them  from  the  situation  in 
which  these  acts  placed  them  by  exposing  their  free  colored 
mariners  to  unlawful  imprisonment,  and  their  vessels  to  an 
enormous  and  unnecessary  expense  and  detention.  Congress, 
however,  gave  no  relief,  and  South  Carolina  went  on  increas 
ing  the  severity  of  her  statutes  and  the  rigor  of  their  enforce 
ment. 

England  made  formal  complaint  against  these  acts,  and  re 
monstrated  not  with  that  State,  but  with  the  national  govern 
ment.  The  subject  was  referred  to  William  Wirt,  then  Attor 
ney-General  of  the  United  States ;  and  that  eminent  jurist, 
though  a  native  of  Virginia  and  a  slaveholder  himself,  in 
1824,  pronounced  the  acts  she  complained  of  an  infraction  of 
"the  Constitution,  treaties,  and  laws  of  the  United  States, 
and  incompatible  with  the  rights  of  all  nations  in  amity  with 
the  United  States."  South  Carolina  bowed  to  that  decision  so 
far  as  it  applied  to  foreign  nations,  but  mercilessly  enforced 
those  laws  against  the  citizens  of  her  sister  States,  who  some 
times  found  in  her  ports  that  temporary  protection  on  the 
decks  and  under  the  flags  of  other  governments  which  their 
own  failed  to  secure.  Though  one  of  her  most  eminent  sons, 
William  Johnson,  then  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  held  the  opinion  that  these  laws  "  trampled 
on  the  Constitution,"  "  implied  a  direct  attack  upon  the  sover 
eignty  of  the  United  States,"  tended  "  to  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union,"  and  were  "  unconstitutional  and  void,"  yet  she  per 
sistently  adhered  to  her  illegal,  unfriendly,  and  cruel  policy. 

Louisiana  and  some  other  Southern  States  followed  her  per 
nicious  example.  For  years  the  merchants,  shipmasters,  and 
seamen  of  Northern  States  were  thus  harassed  and  burdened. 
These  oppressions  continuing,  petitions  were  presented,  in 
1836,  to  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts,  by  antislavery  men, 
asking  the  interposition  of  the  State.  Samuel  J.  May  and 
Samuel  E.  Sewall  appeared  before  the  committee  and  pre 
sented  the  carefully  collected  facts  bearing  upon  the  subject. 
No  action,  however,  was  taken  till  1839,  when  a  series  of 

73 


578       BISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

resolutions  was  passed,  protesting  against  laws  under  which 
"  citizens  of  this  Commonwealth,  visiting  those  States  for 
purposes  of  business  or  driven  thither  by  misfortune,  often 
have  been  and  continue  to  be,  though  guiltless  of  crime,  cast 
into  prison,  subjected  to  onerous  fines,  and  in  many  instances 
sold  into  slavery."  Assuming  that  it  was  the  paramount  duty 
of  Massachusetts  to  protect  her  citizens,  the  governor  was 
authorized  to  employ  a  suitable  person,  whenever  any  colored 
citizen  of  the  State  was  imprisoned  in  another  State  on  account 
of  complexion  or  race,  to  lay  the  matter  before  the  proper  au 
thorities  and  secure  the  release  of  the  individual.  These 
resolves,  so  moderate  in  language  and  so  reasonable  in  their 
demands,  were  unheeded,  and  treated  with  contemptuous  neg 
lect. 

After  patiently  waiting  three  years,  the  legislature  author 
ized  the  governor  to  take  suitable  measures  at  the  expense  of 
the  Commonwealth  to  procure  the  discharge  of  persons  held 
under  such  laws,  and  to  test  their  legality  before  the  Supreme 
Court ;  but  this  action  secured  no  practical  result.  These 
laws  were  felt  to  be  more  and  more  oppressive  and  burden 
some,  and  petitions  were  presented  in  1843,  to  the  legislature, 
asking  the  appointment  of  counsel  in  the  ports  of  Charleston 
and  New  Orleans  to  act  in  behalf  of  their  oppressed  citizens. 
The  legislature  promptly  passed  resolves  authorizing  the  gov 
ernor  to  employ  an  agent  for  the  ports  of  Charleston  and  New 
Orleans,  for  a  term  not  exceeding  one  year,  for  collecting  and 
transmitting  information  respecting  the  number  of  persons 
imprisoned  without  the  allegation  of  a  crime,  and  to  prose 
cute  one  or  more  suits,  so  as  to  test  the  legality  of  these  im 
prisonments.  Governor  Morton  appointed  agents  for  that  pur 
pose  ;  but  they  took  no  notice  of  their  appointment,  or  declined 
to  act. 

Defeated  in  all  its  efforts  to  secure  the  protection  of  its 
citizens,  the  legislature,  in  1844,  authorized  the  governor  to 
appoint  an  agent  to  reside  at  Charleston,  and  another  to  reside 
in  New  Orleans,  to  carry  into  effect  the  resolutions  of  the  pre 
ceding  legislature.  Under  this  authority  Governor  Briggs 
appointed  for  Charleston  Samuel  Hoar  of  Concord.  Mr. 


IMPRISONMENT  OF  COLORED  SEAMEN.         579 

Hoar  was  a  gentleman  of  ripe  age,  of  great  personal  worth 
and  influence,  eminent  in  his  profession,  having  served  with 
much  acceptance  in  both  the  State  and  national  legislatures. 
He  was  by  temperament,  education,  and  social  position  cau 
tious  and  conservative.  He  had  never  been  an  Abolitionist, 
but  was  a  supporter  and  advocate  of  the  colonization  scheme. 

Accepting  this  appointment,  Mr.  Hoar  set  out  on  his  mission 
of  justice,  humanity,  and  constitutional  law.  With  his  daugh 
ter,  a  lady  of  rare  intelligence  and  excellence  of  character,  he 
arrived  at  Charleston  on  the  28th  of  November,  1844.  On  the 
same  day  he  addressed  a  communication  to  the  governor  of 
South  Carolina,  informing  him  that  he  had  been  appointed  by 
the  governor  of  Massachusetts  an  agent  to  collect  and  trans 
mit  accurate  information  respecting  the  imprisonment  of  citi 
zens  of  that  Commonwealth,  and  bring  one  or  more  suits  in 
their  behalf.  The  next  day  Mr.  Hoar  sought  an  introduction 
to  the  mayor  of  Charleston,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  ac 
cess  to  "  the  records  of  orders  on  sentences  to  imprisonment 
of  our  colored  seamen  or  other  citizens."  But  that  official  was 
at  Columbia,  attending  a  session  of  the  legislature. 

James  H.  Hammond  was  then  governor  of  South  Carolina. 
His  views  upon  slaveholding  were  of  the  most  extravagant 
character.  He  believed  it  to  be  the  normal  condition  of  so 
ciety.  In  Congress  he  had  shown  himself  to  be  its  most 
zealous  advocate,  and  a  violent  exponent  of  the  most  ex 
treme  opinions  of  his  State.  Reckless  alike  of  the  rights  of 
whites  and  of  blacks,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  make  this  avowal 
on  the  floor  of  the  House  :  "  I  warn  the  Abolitionists,  —  igno 
rant,  infatuated  barbarians  as  they  are,  —  that,  if  chance  shall 
throw  any  of  them  into  our  hands,  they  may  expect  a  felon's 
death."  On  receiving  Mr.  Hoar's  letter,  the  governor  hastened 
to  communicate  it  to  the  legislature.  Incensed  at  what  they 
chose  to  regard  "  as  part  of  a  deliberate  and  concerted  scheme 
to  subvert  the  domestic  institutions  of  the  Southern  States," 
the  legislature  promptly  adopted  a  series  of  resolutions  declar 
ing  the  right  of  South  Carolina  to  exclude  from  her  territory 
persons  whose  presence  might  be  dangerous  ;  denying  that  free 
negroes  were  "  citizens  of  the  United  States  "  in  the  meaning 


580        EISE   AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

of  the  Constitution  ;  and  requesting  the  governor  to  "  expel 
the  emissary  sent  by  Massachusetts  to  South  Carolina." 

Nor  did  the  legislature  pause  with  these  declarations.  They 
passed  an  act  to  punish  by  fines,  imprisonment,  and  banish 
ment  any  person  coming  within  the  limits  of  the  State  with 
the  intent  to  disturb  or  hinder  the  operation  of  laws  relating 
to  slaves  and  free  persons  of  color.  It  also  enacted  that  any 
resident  citizen  of  the  State  who  should  accept  any  commission 
for  a  like  purpose  should  receive  a  still  severer  punishment. 

As  his  mission  became  known,  a  like  feeling  of  resentment 
and  hostility  ran  through  the  State.  Charleston  was  in  a  fer 
ment  of  rage.  The  sheriff  called  on  Mr.  Hoar,  and  said  to 
him :  "  It  is  considered  a  great  insult  on  South  Carolina  by 
Massachusetts  to  send  an  agent  here  on  such  business.  The 
city  is  highly  incensed.  You  are  in  great  danger,  and  you 
had  better  leave  the  city  as  soon  as  possible."  He  replied 
with  firmness,  that  he  had  been  sent  by  the  governor  of  Mas 
sachusetts  on  lawful  business,  and  he  could  not  consent  to 
leave  until  he  had  attempted,  at  least,  to  carry  out  his  instruc 
tions.  The  sheriff  then  read  a  portion  of  a  letter  he  had  re 
ceived  from  the  attorney-general,  urging  the  importance  of  pre 
serving  order  and  deprecating  a  resort  to  lynching,  which 
would  be  "  a  disgrace  to  the  city."  Repeating  several  times 
that  the  excitement  was  intense,  that  the  people  regarded  the 
object  of  his  visit  an  insult,  he  advised  him  to  leave  at  once,  as 
the  only  means  of  safety  left.  But  Mr.  Hoar  was  firm  in  his 
unwillingness  to  leave  under  such  circumstances.  Other  citi 
zens  called,  with  similar  representations  and  counsel. 

It  was  suggested  to  him  by  the  sheriff,  that  a  case  be  made 
up  and  taken  before  the  Supreme  Court,  and  a  decision  secured 
by  this  means.  To  this  proposition  he  readily  assented  ;  but, 
on  further  reflection  and  consideration,  the  sheriff  withdrew 
the  offer.  Dr.  Whitridge,  to  whom  Mr.  Hoar  had  a  letter 
of  introduction,  also  called  upon  him ;  and,  though  express 
ing  his  "  unutterable  mortification  in  communicating  the  state 
of  things  existing  in  Charleston,"  he  felt  obliged  to  apprise 
him  of  his  danger,  and  of  the  necessity  of  immediate  escape. 
He  told  him  that  he  had  just  come  from  the  common  council  •, 


IMPRISONMENT   OF   COLORED   SEAMEN. 


581 


that  the  people  were  assembling  in  groups,  and  that  the  best 
course  to  be  pursued  was  to  take  a  carriage  to  his  plantation, 
some  twenty  miles  distant,  where  they  could  arrange  further 
movements.  But  he  still  firmly  declined  the  proffered  aid  and 
advice. 

Three  gentlemen  —  one  of  them  a  bank  president  and  the 
others  two  attorneys  of  that  city,  one  of  whom  was  Mr.  Magrath, 
a  lawyer  of  eminence,  afterward  a  judge  of  the  United  States 
District  Court,  and  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Rebellion —  called 
on  Mr.  Hoar,  avowedly  for  the  purpose  of  inducing  him  to  leave 
the  city.  To  their  urgent  request  that  he  should  leave,  Mr. 
Hoar  replied  by  stating  the  lawful  nature  of  his  business,  and 
the  pressing  necessity  he  was  under  to  perform  it.  After  fur 
ther  conversation,  they  informed  him  that  they  would  call 
again  and  escort  him  to  the  boat.  He  replied  that  fight 
ing  on  his  part  would  be  very  foolish,  that  he  was  too  old  to 
run,  and  they  would  find  him  there  to  be  disposed  of  as  they 
should  think  proper.  When  they  were  about  leaving  the  room, 
he  reminded  them  that  he  had  a  daughter  with  him ;  to  which 
Mr.  Rose,  the  bank  president,  replied :  "  It  is  that  which 
creates  our  embarrassment."  While  these  gentlemen  used  no 
violent  language,  their  words  and  tones  indicated  that  they 
were  determined  in  their  purpose. 

He  was  further  embarrassed  by  the  action  of  the  keeper 
of  the  hotel.  Without  intimating  to  him  a  desire  that  he 
should  leave  his  house,  he  presented  a  request  to  the  city 
government  that  they  would  remove  him,  to  save  his  house 
from  the  impending  danger.  Informed  that  a  story  was  circu 
lating  through  the  city  that  he  had  consented  to  leave,  Mr. 
Hoar  stated  to  Mr.  Rose  and  his  friends  that  he  had  given  no 
such  consent ;  and  that,  if  he  left  the  city,  it  would  be  because 
he  u  must,"  not  because  he  "  would."  It  was  admitted  that 
they  had  no  power  to  order  him  away,  and  that  all  they  could 
do  was  to  warn  him  of  what  was  to  follow  if  he  should  not  go. 
They  concurred  in  assuring  him  that  he  had  done  all  he  could, 
and  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  remain  longer  in  the  city. 
"  It  seemed  then,"  said  Mr.  Hoar,  in  his  report  to  the  gov 
ernor  of  Massachusetts,  "  that  there  was  but  one  question  for 


582        RISE  AND   FALL   OP   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

me  to  settle ;  which  was,  whether  I  should  walk  to  a  carriage 
or  be  dragged  to  it.  Unless  I  disregarded  the  statements  of 
friends  as  well  as  of  foes,  and  also  the  preparations  which  I 
then  saw  about  me,  this,  I  must  conclude,  was  the  only  alterna 
tive.  I  could  perceive  no  use  to  any  State,  cause,  or  person  in 
choosing  the  latter ;  and  I  then,  and  for  the  first  time,  said, 
4 1  will  go.' '  He  entered  the  carriage  pointed  out  to  him,  and 
was  driven  to  the  boat  "  without  any  tumult  or  further  abuse." 

Thus  was  the  accredited  agent  of  Massachusetts  expelled 
from  the  soil  of  a  sister  State,  while  her  colored  citizens, 
guilty  of  no  crime,  were  still  doomed,  though  in  the  pursuit  of 
their  lawful  avocations,  to  arrests,  imprisonments,  fines,  and, 
for  a  second  offence,  to  be  sold  at  public  sale  as  slaves.  Thus, 
too,  in  violation  of  the  guaranty  that  "  the  citizens  of  each 
State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  the  immunities  and  privileges 
of  citizens  of  the  several  States,"  did  South  Carolina  adhere, 
not  only  inflexibly  but  vauntingly,  to  her  inhuman  and  lawless 
policy.  Not  only  did  the  efforts  of  Massachusetts  to  protect 
her  lowly  and  defenceless  sons  signally  fail,  but  she  found  her 
self  powerless  either  to  maintain  the  rights  guaranteed  by  the 
Constitution,  which  she  felt  herself  bound  to  support,  or  to 
vindicate  her  co-equality  among  her  sister  States. 

Significant,  indeed,  were  the  inquiries  with  which  Mr.  Hoar 
closed  the  report  of  his  fruitless  mission.  "  Has  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States  the  least  practical  validity  or  binding 
force  in  South  Carolina  ?  She  prohibits  the  trial  of  an  action 
in  the  tribunals  established  under  the  Constitution  for  deter 
mining  such  cases  in  which  a  citizen  of  Massachusetts  com 
plains  that  a  citizen  of  South  Carolina  has  done  him  an  injury  ; 
saying  that  she  has  herself  already  tried  that  cause  and  de 
cided  against  the  plaintiff.  She  prohibits,  not  only  by  her 
mobs,  but  by  her  legislature,  the  residence  of  a  free  white  citi 
zen  of  Massachusetts  within  the  limits  of  South  Carolina 
whenever  she  thinks  his  presence  there  inconsistent  with  her 
policy.  Are  the  other  States  of  the  Union  to  be  regarded  as 
the  conquered  provinces  of  South  Carolina  ?  " 

But  South  Carolina  was  not  alone  in  her  violent  and  contu 
macious  course.  Henry  Hubbard,  a  lawyer  of  Western  Massa- 


IMPRISONMENT  OF  COLORED  SEAMEN.         583 

chusetts,  had  been  appointed  the  agent  for  Louisiana.  His 
arrival  in  New  Orleans  threw  the  city  into  great  excitement. 
At  the  outset  he  was  careful  to  disclaim  all  connection  with 
abolitionism,  or  any  intention  to  interfere  with  slavery  or  with 
slaves  at  the  South.  The  purpose  of  Massachusetts,  he  said, 
was  to  enable  the  citizens  of  that  State,  imprisoned  without 
crime,  to  avail  themselves  of  all  lawful  means  for  their  libera 
tion.  In  a  communication  to  Governor  Mouton  he  assured 
him  that  Massachusetts  was  simply  striving  to  protect  her  own 
citizens,  and  had  done  nothing  to  infringe  the  right  of  her 
sister  States.  But  all  these  explanations  and  disclaimers  were 
unavailing.  The  excitement  increased,  the  murmurs  of  hos 
tile  intent  grew  louder,  and  threats  of  lynching  were  freely 
circulated.  Everything  boded  a  popular  outbreak. 

Mr.  Hubbard  was  waited  upon  by  the  city  recorder,  accom 
panied  by  Mr.  Soule*,  afterward  United  States  senator,  and 
urged  immediately  to  leave  the  city.  As  he  declined  com 
pliance  with  these  demands,  the  recorder,  under  great  excite 
ment,  said  to  him  :  "  It  is  from  no  motive  but  that  of  humanity 
that  I  come  to  warn  you  of  your  danger.  If  you  do  not  prom 
ise  to  leave  the  city  immediately,  your  life  is  not  safe  this 
night ;  and  if  I  should  take  you  into  custody,  I  could  not  pro 
tect  you,  for  they  would  murder  me  in  a  moment.  If  you  stay 
here  another  night,  your  life  will  certainly  be  taken."  He 
was  assured,  too,  by  Jacob  Barker,  a  native  of  Massachusetts, 
but  long  a  citizen  of  New  Orleans,  that  his  life  was  in  immi 
nent  peril.  Under  these  circumstances  he  addressed  a  letter  to 
the  governor  of  Louisiana,  expressing  his  purpose,  now  that 
his  mission  was  fruitless,  immediately  to  leave  the  State.  The 
law,  the  government,  and  the  people  of  Louisiana  were  against 
his  mission  ;  and  Mr.  Hubbard  returned  home,  made  his  re 
port,  and  resigned  his  agency. 

Thus  Louisiana,  like  South  Carolina,  acting  on  the  practical 
assumption  that  everything  must  be  subordinate  to  the  inter 
ests  of  slavery,  did  not  hesitate  to  violate  both  the  spirit  and 
the  letter  of  the  Constitution  ;  while  Massachusetts,  believing 
that  the  government  was  designed  to  secure  the  blessings  of 
liberty  to  all,  aimed  to  make  it  effectual  in  guarding  the  rights 


584       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

of  the  humblest  of  her  citizens  ;  but  she  found  herself,  under 
the  slavery  regime,  powerless  for  the  protection  of  her  most 
honored  official  representatives. 

Nor  could  she  look  to  the  national  government  for  the  vin 
dication  of  her  rights.  That,  too,  was  bestrode  by  the  Slave 
Power  and  compelled  to  do  its  bidding.  An  appeal  had  al 
ready  been  made,  and  that  appeal  had  been  denied.  In  De 
cember,  1842,  Mr.  Winthrop  of  Massachusetts  had  presented 
a  memorial  of  the  citizens  of  Boston,  owners  and  masters  of 
vessels  and  others,  representing  that  it  was  necessary  to  em 
ploy  free  persons  of  color  in  vessels  entering  the  ports  of 
Charleston,  Savannah,  Mobile,  and  New  Orleans  ;  that  these 
men  were  frequently  taken  from  their  vessels  and  thrown  into 
prison,  greatly  to  the  prejudice  of  their  interests  and  the  detri 
ment  of  commerce  ;  and  they  prayed  Congress  to  grant  relief, 
and  render  effectual  the  privileges  of  citizenship  secured  by  the 
Constitution. 

This  memorial  had  been  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Commerce,  and  Mr.  Winthrop,  who  evinced  in  this  case  deep 
interest  and  zeal,  had  promptly  reported  that  the  judiciary 
alone  could  give  relief  from  these  oppressive  laws,  and  the 
State  alone  could  repeal  them.  But  the  committee  reported  a 
series  of  resolutions,  trusting  that  their  adoption  by  the  House 
would  not  be  without  influence  in  securing,  for  the  petitioners, 
and  much  more  for  the  seamen  in  their  employ,  the  redress 
they  demanded.  These  resolutions  pronounced  that  the  seiz 
ure  and  imprisonment  in  the  ports  of  any  State  of  free  colored 
seamen  against  whom  there  was  no  charge  but  that  of  enter 
ing  such  ports  in  pursuance  of  their  lawful  business,  and  the 
authorizing  of  such  seizure  and  imprisonment  by  State  laws, 
were  in  contravention  of  the  paramount  and  exclusive  power 
of  the  general  government  to  regulate  commerce,  and  were 
also  in  direct,  positive,  and  permanent  conflict  with  the  ex 
press  provisions  and  fundamental  principles  of  the  national 
compact.  The  House  of  Representatives,  however,  under  the 
lead  of  Cave  Johnson  of  Tennessee,  soon  thereafter  made 
Postmaster-General,  laid  those  resolutions  on  the  table  by  a 
large  majority  ;  and  by  so  doing  gave  its  sanction  and  encour- 


IMPRISONMENT  OF  COLORED  SEAMEN.         585 

agement  to  this  inhuman,  unjust,  and  unconstitutional  State 
legislation. 

Early  in  the  session  of  1845  Governor  Briggs  sent  to  the 
legislature  Mr.  Hoar's  report,  accompanied  by  a  well-reasoned 
and  temperate  message.  It  was  referred  to  a  joint  special 
committee,  of  which  Charles  Francis  Adams  was  made  chair 
man.  That  committee,  on  the  3d  of  February,  reported  re 
solves  concerning  the  treatment  of  Samuel  Hoar  by  the  State 
of  South  Carolina,  with  a  declaration  to  be  adopted  as  the  act 
of  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts.  This  declaration 
clearly  set  forth  the  whole  case  in  issue,  and  justified  by  indis 
putable  facts  and  impregnable  arguments  the  course  Massachu 
setts  had  pursued.  With  becoming  solemnity,  as  "  in  the 
presence  of  all  Christian  nations,  of  the  civilized  world,  and 
of  an  omniscient,  all-seeing  Deity,  the  final  judge  of  human 
action,"  she  addressed  "  each  of  her  sister  States,"  entered 
her  solemn  protest,  and  arraigned  South  Carolina  because  the 
latter  had  disregarded  "  the  comity  acknowledged  by  all  civil 
ized  communities,"  defied  "  the  express  stipulations  of  the 
Constitution,"  and  refused  to  submit  her  action  to  be  adjudged 
by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

This  admirable  State  paper,  which  was  unanimously  adopted 
and  sent  forth  to  the  country,  closed  with  this  firm  and  digni 
fied  enunciation  of  the  purposes  of  Massachusetts  :  "  She  will 
never  relax  in  her  demands  of  all  the  rights  which  belong  to 
her  as  a  State  and  member  of  the  Union,  or  in  the  execution 
of  her  utmost  energies  in  support  of  the  undying  principles  of 
justice  and  liberty  among  men,  the  base  of  her  social  edifice, 
cemented  in  the  blood  of  many  of  its  founders,  as  they  are  the 
pride  and  honor  of  modern  civilization." 

This  appeal  awoke  no  response  and  secured  no  action  from 
the  offending  States.  Their  cruel  laws  still  continued  to  dis 
grace  their  statute-books,  and  Northern  freemen  were  still  sub 
jected  to  their  harsh  and  humiliating  operation.  Nor  was  there 
any  relaxation  until  they  were  swept  away  by  the  fire  and  flood 
which  destroyed  the  guilty  cause  itself.  What  and  how  potent 
was  the  agency  which  this  persistent  injustice,  these  continued 
oppressions,  exerted  in  bringing  on  that  struggle,  Omniscience 

74 


586        RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

only  knows.  How  important  a  factor  it  became  in  that  com 
bination  of  causes  which  hastened  on  the  bloody  struggle  no 
human  sagacity  can  divine.  Nor  can  it  be  known  how  much 
the  manly  stand  of  Massachusetts,  though  then  overborne,  con 
tributed  to  the  building  up  of  that  power  which,  sixteen  years 
later,  grappled  with  slavery  in  arms  and  closed  its  career  of 
crime. 


CHAPTER    XLII. 

PLOT  FOB  THE  ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS. 

Dominating  Influences  of  the  Slave  Power.  —  Texas.  —  Immigration  from  the 
South.  —  Texas  declared  Independent.  —  Annexation  to  the  United  States  pro 
posed.  —  Rejected  by  Mr.  Van  Bureu.  —  Election  and  Death  of  General  Har 
rison.  —  Mr.  Tyler.  —  Mr.  Gilmer's  Letter.  —  General  Jackson's  Letter.  — 
Presidential  Intrigue.  —  Address  of  Members  of  Congress  against  the  Texas 
Scheme.  —  Duff  Green's  Letter.  —  Visit  of  Mr.  Andrews  and  Mr.  Tappan  to 
England.  —  Motives  for  Annexation  distinctly  avowed.  —  Accusations  against 
England.  —  Position  of  the  British  Government.  —  Texas  or  Disunion.  —  Con 
ditions  demanded  by  Texas.  —  Death  of  Mr.  Upshur.  —  Mr.  Calhoun  made  Sec 
retary  of  State.  —  Treaty. 

So  marked  had  been  the  slayeholding  policy  of  the  United 
States,  so  distinct  had  been  its  avowals,  that  well-informed  and 
thoughtful  men  in  the  Old  World  saw,  and  did  not  hesitate  to 
characterize  in  fitting  terms,  the  inconsistency  of  the  great  Re 
public.  In  the  year  1845,  Macaulay  in  the  British  parliament 
unquestionably  gave  expression  to  the  well-considered  senti 
ments  of  European  opinion  when  he  said  :  "  That  nation  is  the 
champion  and  upholder  of  slavery.  They  seek  to  extend  slav 
ery  with  more  energy  than  was  ever  exerted  by  any  other  na 
tion  to  diffuse  civilization." 

Of  this  policy  and  of  those  avowals  no  page  of  American  his 
tory  affords  more  striking  examples  than  that  which  narrates 
the  inception,  progress,  and  consummation  of  the  plot  for  the 
annexation  of  Texas.  For,  perhaps,  at  no  point  in  that  his 
tory  was  the  ascendency  of  the  Slave  Power  more  complete, 
nowhere  along  its  gloomy  pathway  did  the  nation  afford  sad 
der  examples  of  abject  subserviency  to  its  behests.  For  that 
power  not  only  controlled  the  government  and  dictated  its 
policy,  but  it  made  no  concealment  of  its  designs  and  purposes 
of  control  and  dictation.  It  was  openly  and  almost  ostenta- 


588        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

tiously  proclaimed,  not  only  that  slavery  should  be  protected 
against  a  threatened  danger,  but  that  it  should  be  strength 
ened  and  its  area  extended.  Its  friends  were  not  only  busy, 
but  they  were  open  in  their  avowals  of  the  object  of  their 
efforts. 

When  Louisiana  was  purchased  of  France,  in  1803,  by  Mr. 
Jefferson,  its  western  boundaries  were  undefined.  Texas  was 
claimed  by  both  the  United  States  and  Spain,  and  there  was 
danger  of  collision  between  the  authorities  of  the  two  nations. 
Mr.  Pinkney  and  Mr.  Monroe  were  therefore  directed  by  Mr. 
Jefferson,  in  1805,  to  settle  with  Spain  the  question  of  boun 
dary  ;  and  in  1816,  Mr.  Erving,  minister  to  that  government, 
was  authorized  to  make  a  treaty  fixing  upon  the  Sabine  River 
as  the  boundary  between  the  two  countries.  Mr.  Jefferson 
had  virtually  accepted  such  an  arrangement  in  1806  by  as 
senting  to  an  agreement  between  the  American  and  Span 
ish  commanders,  on  their  respective  frontiers,  by  which  the 
troops  of  the  United  States  were  not  to  move  beyond  the 
Rio  Hondo,  and  the  troops  of  Spain  were  not  to  come  east 
of  the  Sabine. 

By  the  treaty  of  1819  the  claim  of  the  United  States  to  the 
undefined  territory  of  Texas  was  ceded  to  Spain  as  a  part  of 
the  consideration  for  the  cession  of  Florida.  This  acquisition 
had  been  so  earnestly  urged  by  the  slaveholders  of  Georgia 
and  Alabama  as  a  remedy  or  protection  against  the  escape 
of  slaves  into  that  territory  from  those  States,  and  so  strong 
was  the  pressure  upon  the  government,  that  Mr.  Monroe,  with 
the  consent  of  all  his  Cabinet,  agreed  to  this  recession  of  Texas 
to  Spain.  It  met  with  opposition,  however,  though  unavailing, 
even  from  slaveholders  themselves,  a  resolution  being  intro 
duced  into  the  House  by  Mr.  Clay,  dissenting  from  it.  But  the 
resolution  was  rejected,  and  the  treaty  received  not  only  the 
sanction  of  the  Senate,  but  also  the  approval  of  the  country. 
Texas  thus  became  an  undisputed  part  of  Mexico  by  the  action 
of  the  United  States  ;  and  when  that  country  achieved  her  in 
dependence,  this  territory  became  an  integral  portion  of  that 
republic. 

Efforts,  however,  were  early  made  to  recover  it  by  treaty. 


PLOT  FOR  THE  ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS.         589 

In  1827,  Mr.  Clay,  then  Secretary  of  State  in  the  administra 
tion  of  Mr.  Adams,  authorized  an  offer  of  a  million  dollars 
to  Mexico  for  the  territory  east  of  the  Rio  Grande.  Under  the 
administration  of  General  Jackson,  two  years  later,  that  offer 
was  increased  to  four  or  five  million  dollars  for  Texas  proper, 
which  did  not  include  either  New  Mexico  or  the  valley  of  the 
Rio  Grande.  Other  efforts  were  made  by  General  Jackson, 
but  Mexico  persistently  refused  to  treat  for  its  cession  on  any 
terms.  The  avowed  and  probably  the  real  reasons  for  those 
early  efforts  were  to  secure  a  better  western  boundary,  to  pro 
tect  New  Orleans,  and  to  prevent  the  occupation  of  that  terri 
tory  by  a  foreign  and  hostile  power.  It  was  stated  by  Mr. 
Adams,  in  1845,  in  the  debate  on  the  resolutions  for  the  an 
nexation  of  Texas,  that  it  was  a  free  country  when  he  offered 
to  purchase  it,  and  that  he  had  ever  been  willing  to  acquire  it, 
as  a  free  country,  with  the  assent  of  Mexico. 

By  the  decree  of  the  President  of  Mexico,  in  1829,  slavery 
was  abolished  throughout  the  Mexican  Republic.  There  being 
very  few  Mexican  inhabitants  in  the  territory  known  as  Texas, 
the  slave-masters  looked  with  hungry  eyes  upon  that  region, 
whose  climate,  soil,  and  other  natural  resources,  invited  im 
migration.  Adventurers,  principally  from  the  southwestern 
States,  many  of  them  broken  in  fortune  and  reckless  and  des 
perate  in  character,  allured  by  unbounded  prospects  of  wealth 
and  power,  flocked  into  the  territory,  and,  with  characteristic 
effrontery  and  lawlessness,  took  their  slaves  with  them,  though 
in  plain  defiance  of  Mexican  law.  With  still  greater  audacity 
and  criminality,  secret  agencies  were  formed  for  enlisting  and 
arming  men  for  the  hardly  concealed  purpose  of  re-establishing 
slavery  in  territory  which  had  been  made  free  by  Mexican  stat 
ute,  and  even  of  wresting  that  territory  from  its  allegiance  to 
the  Mexican  government.  Indeed,  in  1832,  Sam  Houston,  who 
had  been  a  soldier  under  General  Jackson,  and  who  was  sub 
sequently  a  member  of  Congress  and  governor  of  Tennessee, 
went  to  Texas  avowedly  for  the  purpose  of  taking  possession 
of  the  country,  and  of  establishing  there  an  independent  gov 
ernment.  In  that  work  he  received  the  support  of  large  num 
bers  of  the  Southern  people,  with  the*  countenance,  hardly  dis- 


590       BISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

guised,  of  the  civil  and  military  authorities  of  the  United 
States. 

On  the  2d  of  March,  1836,  the  independence  of  Texas  was 
proclaimed.  A  few  weeks  later  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto  was 
fought.  Santa  Anna,  president  of  the  Mexican  Republic,  hav 
ing  been  taken  prisoner,  stipulated  for  the  recognition  of 
Texan  independence,  though  Mexico  would  not  sanction  a 
treaty  made  by  its  president  while  thus  held  in  duress. 

Immediately  after  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto,  Mr.  Calhoun 
announced  it  to  be  the  policy  of  the  government  to  recognize 
at  once  the  independence  of  Texas,  and  to  annex  it  as  soon 
as  possible  to  the  United  States.  In  accordance  with  this 
boldly  proclaimed  object,  its  independence  was  recognized 
early  in  1837,  and  its  minister  at  Washington,  General  Hunt, 
proposed  in  August  its  annexation.  The  proposition  was,  how 
ever,  rejected  by  Mr.  Yan  Buren.  Though  generally  subser 
vient  to  the  slaveholders'  policy,  he  faltered  here.  This  was  a 
little  too  bold  and  unequivocal,  and  consequently  Mr.  Forsyth, 
his  Secretary  of  State,  in  his  reply  to  General  Hunt,  affirmed 
that  the  United  States  was  bound  to  Mexico  by  a  treaty  of 
amity  and  commerce,  which  would  be  scrupulously  observed ; 
that  so  long  as  Texas  should  remain  at  war,  while  the  United 
States  was  at  peace  with  her  adversary,  the  proposition  "  ne 
cessarily  involved  the  question  of  war  with  that  adversary." 
The  Secretary  further  stated  that  the  United  States  might 
justly  be  suspected  of  a  disregard  of  the  friendly  purposes  of 
the  compact,  if  the  overtures  of  General  Hunt  were  to  be 
reserved  even  for  the  purpose  of  future  consideration,  as  this 
"  would  imply  a  disposition  on  our  part  to  espouse  the  quarrel 
of  Texas  with  Mexico." 

This  scheme  having  failed,  no  further  overtures  were  made 
during  Mr.  Yan  Buren's  administration.  Those,  however, 
who  had  disapproved  of  the  policy  of  the  cession  of  Texas  to 
Spain  in  1819,  looked  with  favor  on  its  recession  if,  as  Mr. 
Benton  expressed  it,  "  its  recovery  "  could  be  effected  "  without 
crime  and  infamy."  But  they  generally  relinquished  the  idea 
when  they  saw  that  it  had  now  become  a  part  of  a  scheme  of 
sectional  aggrandizement,  another  demand  of  the  Slave  Power, 


PLOT  FOR  THE  ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS.        591 

another  step  in  the  march  of  slavery  aggression  and  ascen 
dency.  Mr.  Adams  had  raised  his  warning  voice  against  it ; 
Mr.  Webster,  in  his  speech  at  Niblo's  Garden,  in  March,  1837, 
nearly  six  months  before  the  proposition  had  been  made  by 
the  Texan  authorities,  declared  that  he  saw  "  objections,  insur 
mountable  objections,"  to  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the 
United  States.  He  thought  all  the  stipulations  contained  in 
the  Constitution  in  favor  of  the  slaveholding  States  which 
were  already  in  the  Union  "  ought  to  be  fulfilled  in  the  ful 
ness  of  their  spirit  and  to  the  exactness  of  their  letter."  "  We 
all  see,"  he  said,  "  that  by  whomsoever  possessed,  Texas  is 
likely  to  be  a  slaveholding  country ;  and  I  frankly  avow  my 
unwillingness  to  do  anything  that  shall  extend  the  slavery  of 
the  African  race  on  this  continent,  or  add  other  slaveholding 
States  to  the  Union."  The  legislatures  of  several  States  pro 
nounced  against  annexation.  The  warning  of  Mr.  Adams,  the 
emphatic  utterances  of  Mr.  Webster,  and  the  decisive  refusal 
of  Mr.  Van  Buren's  administration,  seemed  to  check,  for  a 
while,  the  effort,  and  to  give  its  advocates  the  idea  that  a  large 
work  of  preparation  was  essential  to  success. 

But  the  advanced  leaders,  confident  of  ultimate  triumph, 
determined  to  achieve  it  at  no  distant  day ;  though,  for  pru 
dential  reasons,  they  did  not  make  annexation  an  issue  in  the 
presidential  contest  of  1840.  That  election  resulted  in  the 
defeat  of  the  Democratic  party.  By  the  election  of  General 
Harrison  the  Whigs  came  into  power.  Though  antislavery 
was  not  a  plank  in  their  platform,  and  the  party  had  its  South 
ern  wing,  it  still  embraced  the  few  antislavery  men  in  the 
country,  and  was  generally  regarded  as  more  favorable  to  a 
humane  and  liberal  policy  than  its  antagonist.  The  President 
died,  however,  within  one  month,  and  John  Tyler  became  his 
successor.  Whatever  of  hope  had  been  cherished  by  the 
friends  of  freedom  was  speedily  dispelled  by  the  accession 
of  the  Virginia  slaveholder.  The  friends  of  the  scheme  saw 
that  their  hour  and  man  had  come.  In  Mr.  Tyler  they  found 
one  in  hearty  sympathy  with  their  object,  though  his  party 
affiliations  linked  him  with  the  opponents  of  the  measure. 
They  therefore  gathered  around  him,  flattered  his  vanity, 


592       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN   AMERICA. 

excited  his  ambition,  and  separated  him  from  the  great  body 
of  the  party  which  had  elected  him.  But  Mr.  Webster,  who 
had  remained  in  Mr.  Tyler's  cabinet  after  his  colleagues  had 
retired,  stood  in  the  way,  until  the  coldness,  not  to  say 
rudeness,  of  some  members  of  the  administration,  compelled 
him  to  resign.  The  State  Department  then  passed  into  the 
hands  of  Mr.  Legare  of  South  Carolina,  then  into  those  of 
Mr.  Upshur  of  Virginia,  and  soon  afterward  into  those  of  Mr. 
Calhoun,  each  of  whom  was  an  admitted  propagandist,  and 
ready  to  make  any  sacrifices  in  behalf  of  slavery  and  to  exe 
cute  any  of  the  behests  of  the  Slave  Power. 

Having  colonized  Texas  in  order  that  slavery  might  be 
extended,  the  slaveholders  had  wrested  it  from  Mexico  for 
the  same  purpose.  They  were  now  determined  on  its  an 
nexation  ;  in  the  words  of  General  Hamilton,  to  "  give  a 
Gibraltar  to  the  South,"  and  in  those  of  Henry  A.  Wise,  to 
give  "  more  weight  to  her  end  of  the  lever."  Southern  legis 
latures  declared  that  annexation  would  give  an  "  equal  poise 
of  influence  in  the  halls  of  Congress,"  and  "  a  permanent 
guaranty  of  protection  "  to  the  slave  system.  The  "  Madi- 
sonian,"  President  Tyler's  organ,  affirmed  that  annexation 
would  have  the  most  salutary  influence  upon  slavery,  and  that 
"  it  must  be  done  soon,  or  not  at  all."  To  "  fire  the  Southern 
heart "  and  stimulate  the  administration,  the  leaders  raised 
the  war-cry  of  "  Now,  or  never." 

In  the  winter  of  1843  it  became  apparent  that  a  gigantic 
intrigue  for  annexation  was  in  progress.  Early  in  January  a 
letter  was  published  in  a  Baltimore  paper,  written  by  Thomas 
W.  Gilmer,  a  member  of  the  House  from  Virginia.  He  was 
a  warm  personal  and  political  friend  of  Mr.  Calhoun.  Like 
many  other  young  men  of  the  South,  trained  in  the  Whig  par 
ty,  he  had  deserted  it,  and  accepted  the  theories  of  the  Calhoun 
school  of  Democracy.  This  letter  was  an  adroit  and  skilful 
appeal  in  favor  of  immediate  annexation,  in  order,  as  the 
writer  said,  to  thwart  the  abolition  designs  of  England.  It 
was  sent  through  Aaron  Vail  Brown,  a  member  of  the  House 
from  Tennessee,  to  General  Jackson,  with  a  view  of  drawing 
from  him  an  answer  in  favor  of  seizing  the  golden  opportunity 


PLOT  FOR  THE  ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS.        593 

to  secure  the  immediate  admission  of  Texas,  and  to  defeat  the 
nomination  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  for  the  presidency.  Jackson, 
always  in  favor  of  the  scheme,  and  ever  devoted  to  the  cause  of 
slavery,  replied,  on  the  13th  of  February,  1843,  that  the  annexa 
tion  of  Texas  had  occupied  much  of  his  attention  during  his 
presidency  ;  that  it  had  lost  none  of  its  importance  ;  and  that, 
in  all  its  aspects,  it  was  essential  to  the  United  States.  His 
letter  was  withheld  from  publication  for  more  than  a  year, 
when  it  was  brought  out,  with  its  date  altered  to  1844,  for  the 
purpose  of  aiding  in  carrying  through  the  Senate  the  annexa 
tion  treaty,  and  of  affecting  the  action  of  the  Democratic 
national  convention,  which  was  to  meet  in  May  at  Baltimore. 
Mr.  Benton,  in  his  "  Thirty  Years'  View,"  states  that  Gen 
eral  Jackson's  letter  passed  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Gilmer, 
that  he  showed  it  to  a  confidential  friend,  and  said  that  "  it 
was  to  be  produced  in  the  nominating  convention,  to  over 
throw  Mr.  Van  Buren  and  give  Mr.  Calhoun  the  nomination, 
both  of  whom  were  to  be  interrogated  beforehand,  and  as  it 
was  well  known  what  the  answers  would  be,  —  Calhoun  for, 
and  Van  Buren  against,  immediate  annexation,  —  and  Jack 
son's  answer  coinciding  with  Calhoun's,  would  turn  the  scale 
in  his  favor,  and  i  blow  Van  Buren  sky  high.' ' 

The  leaders  in  this  annexation  scheme  were  unquestionably 
ambitious,  selfish,  and  unscrupulous  intriguers,  as  charged  by 
many  of  their  political  associates  ;  but  their  action  was  mainly 
inspired  by  slaveholding  policy,  so  that  this,  like  so  many  other 
of  the  great  events  of  American  history  which  have  really 
tended  to  the  aggrandizement  and  material  advancement  of 
the  nation,  was  prompted  and  really  accomplished  for  a  no' 
more  worthy  purpose  than  to  strengthen  and  perpetuate  the 
vile  and  inhuman  system  of  chattel  slavery. 

At  the  close  of  the  XXVIIIth  Congress,  twenty  members 
of  the  House  united  in  an  address  to  the  people  of  the  free 
States,  warning  them  against  the  scheme  to  bring  a  foreign 
slaveholding  nation  into  the  Union.  This  address  was  writ 
ten,  after  consultation  with  Mr.  Adams,  Mr.  Giddings,  and  Mr. 
Slade,  by  Seth  M.  Gates,  a  representative  from  New  York.  It 
set  forth  in  direct,  clear,  and  emphatic  language  the  purpose 

75 


594       BISE  AND  FALL  OF  THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

of  the  slaveholding  power  to  secure,  beyond  all  redemption, 
the  perpetuation  of  slavery,  and  to  maintain  its  continued 
ascendency.  It  pronounced  annexation  to  be  a  violation  of 
our  national  compact,  its  objects,  designs,  and  the  great  ele 
mentary  principles  which  entered  into  its  formation.  It  de 
clared  it  to  be  "  an  attempt  to  eternize  an  institution  and  a 
power  of  a  nature  so  unjust  in  themselves,  so  injurious  to  the 
interests  and  abhorrent  to  the  feelings  of  the  people  of  the 
free  States,  as  in  our  opinion  not  only  inevitably  to  result  in  a 
dissolution  of  the  Union,  but  fully  to  justify  it ;  and  we  not 
only  assert  that  the  people  of  the  free  States  ought  not  to  sub 
mit  to  it,  but  we  say  with  confidence  that  they  will  not  submit 
to  it."  It  was  published  generally  in  the  Whig  papers  of  the 
free  States,  and  contributed  largely  to  awaken  the  people  to 
the  meditated  action  of  the  leaders  of  annexation. 

These  motives  for  annexation,  it  is  to  be  observed,  were  dis 
tinctly  avowed  by  its  advocates.  Nor  did,  they  hesitate  to  pro 
claim,  almost  defiantly,  that  all  risks  to  be  run  and  all  sacri 
fices  to  be  made  were  for  slavery.  Mr.  Upshur,  Secretary  of 
State,  in  his  letter  of  the  8th  of  August,  1843,  to  Mr.  Murphy, 
the  Charg£  d'Affaires  in  Texas,  expressly  declared  that  "  few 
calamities  could  befall  this  country,  more  to  be  deplored  than 
the  abolition  of  slavery  in  Texas."  In  a  despatch  of  the  22d 
of  September,  he  assured  Mr.  Murphy  that  there  was  no  reason 
to  fear  that  there  would  be  any  difference  of  opinion  among 
the  slaveholding  States  touching  the  policy  of  annexation, 
which  he  pronounced  "  absolutely  necessary  to  the  salvation 
of  the  South."  In  his  despatch  of  the  21st  of  November  of 
that  year,  he  distinctly  announced  that  "  we  regard  annexa 
tion  as  involving  the  security  of  the  South,"  and  in  that  of 
the  16th  of  January,  1844,  he  asserted  that  "  if  Texas  should 
not  be  attached  to  the  United  States  she  cannot  maintain  that 
institution  ten  years,  and  probably  not  half  that  time." 

These  frank  and  unhesitating  avowals  on  the  part  of  Mr. 
Upshur,  seemed  to  alarm  Mr.  Murphy,  who,  intent  upon  secur 
ing  the  prize,  deprecated  anything  that  looked  like  a  needless 
obstacle  thrown  in  its  way,  and  he  cautioned  the  too  outspoken 
secretary  against  offending  "  our  fanatical  brethren  at  the 


PLOT  FOE  THE  ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS.        595 

North,"  suggesting,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  idea  that  an 
nexation  was  undertaken  for  "  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty  "  was  the  safest  issue  to  present  to  the  nation  at  large. 
"  The  Constitution  of  Texas,"  said  Mr.  Murphy  in  a  despatch 
to  Mr.  Upshur,  "  secures  to  the  master  the  perpetual  right  to 
his  slave,  and  prohibits  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  Texas 
from  any  other  quarter  than  from  the  United  States.  If  the 
United  States  preserves  and  secures  to  Texas  the  possession 
of  her  Constitution,  then  we  have  gained  all  we  can  desire,  and 
all  that  Texas  asks  or  wishes." 

Nor  was  Mr.  Calhoun  any  less  explicit.  Having,  on  the 
death  of  Mr.  Upshur,  succeeded  to  the  State  Department, 
he  wrote  to  Mr.  Green,  the  representative  of  the  government 
in  Mexico,  that  "  it  was  impossible  for  the  United  States 
to  witness  with  indifference  the  efforts  of  Great  Britain  to 
abolish  slavery  in  Texas."  To  the  British  minister  he 
wrote  on  the  27th  of  April,  while  the  treaty  was  pending 
in  the  Senate,  that  annexation  "  was  made  necessary  in  order 
to  preserve  domestic  institutions,  placed  under  the  guaranty 
of  the  Constitutions  of  the  United  States  and  Texas."  He 
also  gravely  asserted  that  what  is  called  slavery  is  in  real 
ity  a  political  institution,  "  essential  to  the  peace,  safety,  and 
prosperity  of  those  States  of  the  Union  in  which  it  exists," 
and  he  avowed  that  Texas  was  to  be  annexed  to  guard  against 
the  danger  of  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  Southern  States. 
Mr.  Green  was  instructed  to  say  to  Mexico,  that  the  treaty  of 
annexation  was  forced  upon  the  government  in  self-defence, 
in  consequence  of  the  policy  adopted  by  Great  Britain  in  refer 
ence  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  Texas. 

Nor  were  these  statements  misapprehended,  or  the  position 
of  the  government  misunderstood.  For  the  Mexican  Minister 
of  Foreign  Relations  sharply  and  with  dignity  replied  :  "  When, 
in  order  to  sustain  slavery  and  avoid  its  disappearance  from 
Texas  and  from  other  points,  recourse  is  had  to  the  arbitrary 
act  of  depriving  Mexico  of  an  integral  part  of  her  possessions 
as  the  only  certain  and  efficacious  remedy  to  prevent  what  Mr. 
Green  calls  4  a  dangerous  event,'  if  Mexico  should  be  silent 
and  lend  her  deference  to  the  present  policy  of  the  Executive 


596       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

of  the  United  States,  the   reproach  and  censure  of  nations 
ought  to  be  her  reward." 

Even  the  more  thoughtful  and  scrupulous  of  the  Democratic 
party  itself  saw  and  felt  the  degradation  of  such  utterances 
from  men  high  in  station.  Thus  the  New  York  "  Evening 
Post,"  then  a  leading  organ  of  the  Democratic  party,  con 
ducted  by  William  C.  Bryant,  well  described  the  unnatural 
and  humiliating  position  of  the  government  and  the  vital 
issue  then  pending :  "  It  is  evident  that  this  presents  to  the 
people  a  question  entirely  new,  and  which  they  cannot  avoid. 
This  issue  is  not  as  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  South 
ern  States,  the  District,  nor  the  Territories  of  the  Union,  but 
whether  this  government  shall  devote  its  whole  energies  to 
the  perpetuation  of  slavery  ;  whether  all  the  sister  republics 
on  this  continent,  which  desire  to  abolish  slavery,  are  to  be 
dragooned  by  us  into  the  support  of  this  institution." 

Unscrupulous  as  were  the  annexation  managers,  and  little 
as  they  hesitated  at  any  means  for  the  accomplishment  of  the 
end  in  view,  nowhere  did  they  seem  more  reckless  of  assertion 
than  in  their  attempt  to  fix  upon  England  what  they  repre 
sented  the  crime  of  promoting  the  abolition  of  slavery  in 
Texas.  Duff  Green,  a  friend  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  "  an  intermed- 
dler  in  other  men's  matters,"  and  fond  of  intrigue,  then  in 
England,  reported  that  there  was  then  in  the  process  of  in 
cubation  a  plot  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  Texas.  It  was 
charged  by  this  serviceable  instrument  that  Stephen  Pearl 
Andrews,  then  in  London,  was  negotiating  with  the  British 
Cabinet,  to  secure  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  Texas,  by  the 
guaranty  by  England  of  ten  million  dollars  in  Texan  bonds. 

There  was  a  modicum  of  truth  in  the  charge,  if  it  be  not  an 
abuse  of  language  to  apply  that  term  to  any  legitimate  attempt 
to  rescue  such  an  embryo  State  from  the  curse  of  slavery. 
Mr.  Andrews,  who  then  resided  in  Texas,  had  endeavored  to 
form  an  emancipation  party  in  its  two  leading  cities,  Houston 
and  Galveston.  Though  at  first  successful  in  gaining  adhe 
rents  to  his  plan,  it  failed  because  of  the  general  unwilling 
ness  to  submit  to  the  pecuniary  sacrifices  involved.  The  de 
pressed  state  of  the  market  for  slave  products  and  for  slaves 


PLOT  FOR  THE  ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS.        597 

themselves  suggested  and  encouraged  the  project  of  seeking 
emancipation  through  compensation,  many  who  had  opposed 
the  former  plan  accepting  the  latter.  Believing  that  the  British 
Abolitionists  would  gladly  aid  in  such  a  scheme,  Mr.  Andrews 
visited  New  York  for  the  purpose  of  finding  those  who  would 
be  willing  to  join  in  the  effort.  Stating  the  facts  that  there 
were  but  some  twenty-five  thousand  slaves  in  Texas,  and  that 
the  contribution  of  four  or  five  million  dollars  would  make 
Texas  a  free  State,  he  found  that  the  antlslavery  men  of  that 
city  and  its  vicinity  were  ready  to  listen  to  his  suggestions, 
and  to  co-operate  in  the  proposed  endeavor. 

Lewis  Tappan,  with  his  prompt  and  large-hearted  philan 
thropy,  entered  earnestly  into  the  attempt,  and  accompanied 
Mr.  Andrews  to  England  for  the  purpose  of  making,  if  possible, 
such  arrangements  with  the  English  government.  Members 
of  the  Cabinet  were  consulted.  They  expressed  their  sympa 
thy  with  the  object  aimed  at,  but  asserted  that  the  government 
as  such  could  not  enter  into  any  such  arrangement  without 
involving  England  in  a  war  with  the  United  States.  Lord 
Palmerston,  though  in  the  opposition,  concurred  in  the  views 
expressed  by  Lord  Aberdeen.  Lord  Brougham  conceded, 
though  reluctantly,  that  the  government  could  not  render  such 
aid  and  still  preserve  friendly  relations  with  this  country. 
No  objections,  however,  were  urged  against  such  private  con 
tributions  as  individuals  might  see  fit  to  make.  No  money, 
however,  was  raised.  The  Secretary  of  State,  seeming  to  as 
sume  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  national  government  to  sup 
port  slavery  in  a  foreign  nation  as  well  as  in  his  own,  com 
municated  these  incidents  of  "  an  alarming  character  "  to  Mr. 
Murphy,  and  directed  him  to  consult  the  Texan  authorities  in 
regard  to  annexation. 

The  charges  of  Duff  Green  against  the  British  cabinet  were 
promptly  denied  by  Lord  Aberdeen,  in  a  communication  to  the 
American  minister,  Mr.  Everett,  and  transmitted  by  him  to  the 
State  Department  in  November  of  that  year.  Lord  Aberdeen 
also  sent  to  the  British  minister  a  peremptory  denial  in  a  de 
spatch,  dated  the  26th  of  December,  which  was  communicated 
to  Mr.  Upshur  on  the  26th  of  February,  two  days  before  his 


698       KISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

death,  which  was  caused  by  the  bursting  of  a  gun  on  board 
the  war  steamer  "  Princeton."  In  this  despatch  the  British 
Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs  made  this  declaration,  so  honor 
able  to  the  British  government :  "  The  governments  of  the 
slaveholding  States  may  be  assured  that  although  we  shall  not 
desist  from  those  open  and  honest  efforts  which  we  have  con 
stantly  made  for  procuring  the  abolition  of  slavery  throughout 
the  world,  we  shall  neither  openly  nor  secretly  resort  to  any 
measures  which  shall  tend  to  disturb  their  domestic  tranquil 
lity."  Mr.  Packingham,  too,  the  British  minister,  replied  to 
the  accusations  of  the  Secretary  of  State  against  England, 
disavowing  in  the  clearest  and  strongest  language  the  designs 
imputed  to  his  government. 

When  Congress  assembled  in  December,  1843,  it  was  seen 
that  the  plot  had  made  great  progress,  and  the  probabilities  of 
success  seemed  to  many  great.  In  addition  to  these  utterances 
of  her  public  men,  there  were  corresponding  efforts  throughout 
the  South.  State  legislatures,  public  meetings,  and  the  press, 
entered  vigorously  upon  the  work  of  preparing  the  public  mind 
of  the  country  for  the  consummation  of  a  purpose  its  leaders 
had  so  much  at  heart.  The  legislature  of  Mississippi  perhaps 
gave  expression  to  the  more  advanced  and  intense  views  and 
feelings  of  the  propagandists,  when  it  declared  slavery  to  be 
"  the  very  palladium  of  their  prosperity  and  happiness  "  ;  that 
the  South  does  not  possess  within  its  limits  "  a  blessing  with 
which  the  affections  of  her  people  are  so  closely  intwined  and 
so  completely  enfibred  " ;  and  that  "  the  protection  of  her 
best  interests  will  be  afforded  by  the  annexation  of  Texas." 
Governor  Gilmer,  in  the  letter  already  referred  to,  had  ex 
pressed  the  opinion  that  the  institutions  of  Texas  would  in 
cline  her  people  "  to  unite  her  destiny  with  ours,"  and  that 
annexation  would  have  a  most  salutary  influence  on  slavery 
itself.  But,  he  added,  she  must  be  annexed  "  soon,  or  not  at 
all." 

Nor  was  the  menace  of  dissolution  wanting.  "  Texas  or 
disunion  "  became  a  watchword  and  a  rallying  cry.  A  con 
vention  of  the  slaveholding  States  was  demanded  "  to  take 
into  consideration,"  in  the  words  of  a  meeting  in  the  Barn- 


PLOT  FOR  THE  ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS.        599 

well  District,  South  Carolina,  "  the  question  of  annexing  Texas 
to  the  Union,  if  the  Union  will  accept  it ;  or,  if  the  Union  will 
not  accept  it,  then  of  annexing  Texas  to  the  Southern  States  "  ; 
and  to  have  "  the  alternative  distinctly  presented  to  the  free 
States,  either  to  admit  Texas  into  the  Union  or  to  proceed 
peaceably  and  calmly  to  arrange  the  terms  of  a  dissolution  of 
the  Union."  Another  meeting  in  the  Williamsburgh  District 
of  the  same  State  declared  that  "  it  was  better  to  be  out  of 
the  Union  with  Texas  than  in  it  without  her."  At  Beaufort, 
another  of  these  assemblages  announced  that  they  would  dis 
solve  the  Union  "  sooner  than  abandon  Texas." 

But  the  scheme  was  beset  with  difficulties  that  would  have 
discouraged  any  but  the  desperate  men  engaged  in  this  work. 
Indeed,  it  is  difficult  to  sound  the  depths  of  mendacity  or  to 
scale  the  heights  of  audacity  reached.  Texas  was  at  war  with 
Mexico,  a  friendly  power,  and  there  was  an  armistice,  with  a 
fair  prospect  of  a  favorable  result  of  the  negotiations  then  in 
progress.  The  Texan  President,  therefore,  seeing  his  advan 
tage,  or  his  danger,  or  both,  made  it  a  condition  precedent  of 
all  negotiations  that  the  United  States  should  assume  the 
Mexican  war,  and  that  it  should  place  at  his  disposal,  "  subject 
to  his  orders,"  sufficient  naval  and  military  forces  for  the  pro 
tection  of  the  belligerent  State.  This  audacious  and  unconsti 
tutional  demand  was  too  much  even  for  Mr.  Upshur,  who  re 
tained  it  unanswered  for  a  month,  when  his  death  occurred. 
Mr.  Nelson,  the  Attorney-General,  for  a  few  days  acting  Secre 
tary  of  State,  gave  an  adverse  decision,  affirming  that  the  gov 
ernment  had  no  constitutional  power  thus  to  use  the  military 
forces  of  the  nation. 

Mr.  Calhoun,  however,  on  his  accession  as  Secretary,  saw 
no  insuperable  objections.  He  therefore  renewed  the  nego 
tiation,  and  on  the  day  before  the  treaty  of  annexation  was 
signed,  he  gave  to  Texas,  in  the  words  of  Mr.  Benton,  "  the 
fatal  pledge  which  his  predecessors  had  refused,  and  followed 
it  up  by  sending  our  ships  and  troops  to  fight  a  people  with 
whom  we  were  at  peace ;  the  whole  veiled  with  the  mantle 
of  secrecy."  This  was  the  testimony  of  a  slaveholder,  of  one, 
too,  who  subsequently  supported  the  scheme,  —  that  it  was  a 


600        RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE  SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

palpable  violation  of  the  Constitution  and  of  the  laws  of  na 
tions,  and  an  unpardonable  outrage  upon  the  rights  of  a 
friendly  people.  Nor  did  Mr.  Benton  seem  to  have  much  con 
fidence  in  the  leaders  of  this  crusade  in  the  matter  of  slavery 
itself.  He  expressed  the  belief  that,  at  the  bottom  and  under 
the  pretext  of  getting  Texas  into  the  Union,  the  scheme  was 
to  get  the  South  out  of  it.  The  whole  scheme  he  characterized 
"  as  an  intriguing  negotiation,  concealed  from  Congress  and 
the  people ;  an  abolition  quarrel  picked  with  Great  Britain  to 
father  an  abolition  quarrel  at  home,  a  slavery  correspondence 
to  outrage  the  North,  war  with  Mexico,  the  clandestine  concen 
tration  of  troops  and  ships  at  the  Southwest,  the  secret  com 
pact  with  the  President  of  Texas  and  the  subjection  of  Ameri 
can  forces  to  his  command,  and  the  flagrant  seizure  of  the 
purse  and  the  sword." 

Mr.  Calhoun,  the  corypheus  of  the  annexation  scheme,  en 
tered  the  State  Department  early  in  March.  Proceeding  at 
once  with  the  negotiations  begun  by  Mr.  Upshur,  he  concluded 
on  the  12th  of  April  a  treaty  of  annexation.  That  concluded, 
he  took  up  the  despatch  of  Lord  Aberdeen,  which  had  remained 
unanswered,  and,  seizing  upon  the  declaration  that  England 
desired  the  abolition  of  slavery  throughout  the  world,  made  an 
elaborate  argument  in  favor  of  slavery  and  against  the  policy 
of  England,  which  he  assumed  to  be  hostile  to  the  slaveholding 
policy  of  the  country.  This  despatch,  written  on  the  18th,  was 
sent  with  the  treaty  to  the  Senate.  But  before  it  left  the  coun 
try  it  was  promulgated  here  to  promote  the  cause  of  immediate 
annexation,  assumed  to  be  necessary  because  of  the  abolition 
machinations  of  Great  Britain.  Ten  days  thereafter  it  was 
sent  to  the  Senate  by  the  President  with  a  message.  In  it 
he  assured  the  Senate  that  the  Southern  and  Southwestern 
States  would  find  in  annexation  "  protection  and  security, 
peace  and  tranquillity,  as  well  against  all  domestic  as  foreign 
efforts  to  disturb  them." 

Of  course  a  treaty  involving  such  momentous  issues  and 
consequences  so  important  to  the  nation  became  the  occasion 
of  a  long  and  heated  debate.  During  these  debates  the  lob 
bies  of  the  capitol  were  crowded  by  land-jobbers  and  flesh- 


PLOT  FOB  THE  ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS.        601 

jobbers ;  Texas  scrip-holders  and  the  owners  and  agents  of 
Mexican  claims  were  drawn  thither  as  if  by  a  common  in 
stinct.  Like  beasts  and  birds  of  prey  they  seemed  to  scent 
the  spoils  they  hoped  to  win,  and  they  infested  by  their  noi 
some  presence  every  department  of  the  government.  They 
were  clamorous  for  the  treaty,  and  by  their  paid  agents  and 
advocates  slandered  and  misrepresented  the  motives  and  ac 
tions  of  those  who  stood  between  them  and  the  objects  of 
their  greedy  desire.  Never  before  had  Congress  been  sub 
jected  to  a  pressure  so  severe  and  to  influences  so  corrupt. 
The  administration,  too,  brought  to  the  support  of  the  treaty 
all  its  powers  and  all  its  seductive  influences.  But  all  these 
efforts  were  unavailing.  Instead  of  receiving  the  needed  "  two- 
thirds"  vote,  less  than  one  third  of  the  Senate  were  found 
willing  to  record  their  names  in  its  favor ;  and  on  the  10th 
of  June  it  was  defeated  by  a  vote  of  sixteen  to  thirty-five. 
Of  the  sixteen  who  voted  for  the  treaty,  five  were  from  the 
North.  Of  that  number  were  James  Buchanan  and  Levi 
Woodbury.  Their  ready  obedience  to  the  behests  of  slavery 
was  not  forgotten.  The  one  was  soon  made  Secretary  of 
State,  and  the  other  was  elevated  to  the  bench  of  the  Supreme 
Court. 

After  the  treaty  was  communicated  to  the  Senate,  and  before 
its  action,  there  were  public  meetings,  many  without  distinc 
tion  of  party,  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  Among  them 
was  one  in  the  city  of  New  York,  on  the  24th  of  April.  There 
were  present  many  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  city. 
The  aged  and  illustrious  Albert  Gallatin  presided,  and  the 
officers  of  the  meeting  were  equally  divided  between  the  two 
parties.  The  venerable  Chancellor  Kent  sent  a  letter  in  which 
he  expressed  the  conviction  that  the  annexation  of  Texas 
without  the  consent  of  Mexico  would  be  "  a  breach  of  faith 
and  honor  which  should  be  universally  condemned."  On  tak 
ing  the  chair,  Mr.  Gallatin  declared  that  to  annex  Texas 
under  the  present  condition  of  affairs  was  to  make  the  United 
States  a  party  to  the  war  with  Mexico,  and  that,  "  according 
to  the  universally  acknowledged  laws  of  nations  and  univer 
sal  usage  of  all  Christian  nations,  to  annex  Texas  is  war." 

76 


602       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

And  he  further  stated  that  in  making  that  declaration  he 
would  be  "  sustained  by  any  publicist  in  the  Christian  world." 
He  said  that  this  would  be  a  war  of  conquest  founded  in 
injustice, — a  disgrace  to  the  national  character.  "  This  meas 
ure,"  he  said,  "  will  bring  indelible  disgrace  upon  democratic 
institutions  ;  it  will  excite  the  hopes  of  their  enemies  ;  it  will 
check  the  hopes  of  the  friends  of  mankind."  "  I  am  highly 
gratified,"  he  said  in  closing,  "  that  the  last  public  act  of  a 
long  life,  the  last  accents  of  an  almost  extinguished  voice, 
should  be  employed  in  bearing  testimony  against  this  outra 
geous  attempt "  upon  the  peace,  safety,  and  honor  of  our  be 
loved  land. 

The  causes  of  this  defeat  were  various.  But  the  main  rea 
son,  doubtless,  lay  in  the  fact  that  the  work  of  preparation 
had  not  been  fully  accomplished,  the  dragooning  process  had 
not  been  completed.  The  fires  had  indeed  raged  furiously,  but 
they  had  not  burned  long  enough  to  fuse  the  conflicting  views, 
purposes,  and  individualities  of  those  who  were,  nevertheless, 
in  a  position  and  in  a  state  of  mind  to  be  converted  to  any 
policy  slavery  might  dictate  or  its  wants  render  necessary. 
But  up  to  that  hour  this  work  remained  incomplete,  and  thus 
not  only  did  the  Senate  reject  the  treaty  by  this  decisive  vote, 
but  the  House  of  Representatives  refused  a  favorable  reception 
to  a  message  from  the  President  still  invoking  immediate  ac 
tion,  while  the  measure  proposed  in  the  Senate  by  Mr.  Benton 
himself,  to  open  negotiations  with  Mexico  and  Texas  for  the 
adjustment  of  boundaries  and  the  annexation  of  the  latter  to 
the  American  Union,  failed.  The  question  had  become  so 
complicated  with  other  issues,  there  were  so  many  points 
involved  on  which  members  had  so  fully  committed  them 
selves,  the  movement  had  become  so  confessedly  a  simple  pur 
pose  and  project  in  the  support  of  slavery,  that  a  majority  in 
neither  House  could  then  be  controlled  or  brought  to  take  the 
position  involved  in  the  treaty. 

But  the  men  who  were  engineering  this  project  were  in 
earnest,  not  to  be  deterred  by  obstacles,  and  not  ignorant  of 
the  advantage  these  two  facts  gave  them,  that  there  were  the 
two  national  parties,  each  dependent  on  its  "  Southern  wing," 


PLOT  FOR  THE  ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS.        603 

and  that  with  the  growing  idea  in  the  Southern  mind,  that,  on 
all  questions  where  there  was  a  conflict  between  the  claims  of 
slavery  and  of  party,  the  claims  of  slavery  must  be  paramount. 
It  was  also  becoming  more  and  more  apparent  that  this  was  a 
case  in  which  the  vital  interests  of  "  the  peculiar  institution  " 
were  involved  and  must  be  regarded. 

In  this  state  of  affairs  the  friends  of  annexation  were  not 
only  prepared,  but  determined,  to  carry  the  question  into  the 
presidential  election  of  1844.  The  indications  in  the  winter 
of  that  year  were  that  Mr.  Yan  Buren  was  the  choice  of  the 
Democratic  party,  though  he  had  not  the  confidence,  nor  was 
he  the  choice,  of  the  plotters  of  annexation,  either  South  or 
North.  To  compel  him  to  define  his  position,  Mr.  Hammet 
of  Mississippi  addressed  him  a  letter  in  the  month  of  March, 
while  negotiations  were  pending,  requesting  him  to  make  a 
statement  of  his  opinions  upon  the  question.  Having  been 
appointed  a  delegate  to  the  approaching  nominating  conven 
tion,  he  intimated  that  Mr.  Yan  Buren's  views  would  probably 
influence  the  results  of  that  convention.  Mr.  Yan  Buren's 
reply,  dated  on  the  20th  of  April,  only  two  days  before  the 
treaty  was  transmitted  to  the  Senate,  while  avoiding  any  refer 
ence  to  slavery,  admitted  that  annexation  in  itself  considered 
was  desirable.  He,  however,  deprecated  its  immediate  con 
summation  because,  he  said,  it  would,  "  in  all  human  proba 
bility,  draw  after  it  a  war  with  Mexico."  He  also  insisted 
upon  the  importance  and  necessity  of  maintaining  the  sacred 
obligations  of  treaty  stipulations,  the  duty  of  preserving  peace 
ful  relations  with  friendly  powers,  and  of  keeping  unsullied 
our  own  national  honor.  This  dignified  and  patriotic  letter, 
however,  sealed  his  fate.  Though  he  was  the  unquestioned 
choice  of  a  decided  majority  of  his  party  as  its  candidate  for 
the  presidency,  he  could  not  be  trusted  by  those  who  were 
resolved  to  have  Texas  at  any  price.  With  them  patriotism 
and  a  nice  sense  of  national  honor  were  at  a  discount,  and 
some  more  pliant  tool  must  be  found. 

In  the  Democratic  convention,  which  assembled  at  Balti 
more  on  the  27th  of  May,  Mr.  Yan  Buren  received  on  the  first 
ballot  a  majority  of  thirty.  His  enemies  and  treacherous 


604        EISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

friends  had,  however,  adopted  what  was  called  the  "  two-thirds 
rule,"  and  that  rendered  his  nomination  impossible.  On  the 
eighth  ballot  his  name  was  withdrawn,  and  James  K.  Polk 
received  the  nomination.  Mr.  Polk  was  a  slaveholder,  an 
uncompromising  and  fanatical  advocate  of  the  system,  an  un 
scrupulous  partisan,  and  fully  committed  to  the  policy  of 
annexation.  The  nomination  for  the  vice  -  presidency  was 
offered  to  Silas  Wright  of  New  York,  but  promptly  declined. 
George  M.  Dallas  of  Pennsylvania,  ever  obsequious  to  the  be 
hests  of  the  Slave  Power,  was  then  selected  as  candidate  for 
that  office. 

The  convention  then  resolved  that  "  the  reoccupation  of 
Oregon  and  the  reannexation  of  Texas  at  the  earliest  practi 
cable  period  are  great  American  questions  which  the  convention 
recommends  to  the  cordial  support  of  the  Democracy  of  the 
Union."  By  adopting  this  platform,  by  overslaughing  Mr.  Van 
Buren,  who  only  objected  to  annexation  in  the  interests  of 
peace  and  national  honor,  and  by  taking  a  candidate  whose 
chief  recommendation  was  his  loudly  proclaimed  adhesion  to 
the  scheme,  the  Slave  Power  gained  a  decisive  victory,  and 
fully  committed  the  Democratic  party  to  that  policy  of  slavery 
propagandism  which  the  Southern  leaders  were  so  fiercely 
pursuing. 

Mr.  Clay  was  unquestionably  the  choice  of  the  masses  of 
the  Whig  party,  though  many  in  its  ranks  would  have  pre 
ferred  a  candidate  whose  position  and  past  avowals  had  not  so 
fully  identified  him  with  slavery.  His  friends,  however,  were 
zealous  and  enthusiastic  in  his  support,  and  they  believed  that 
the  time  had  come  to  place  him  in  the  executive  chair.  Of 
course  his  views  on  the  subject  of  annexation  became  mat 
ters  of  public  solicitude  and  inquiry,  and  he  was  compelled 
to  define  his  position  on  the  troublesome  question.  In  a 
letter,  dated  at  Raleigh,  April  17,  he  set  forth  his  opinions 
with  clearness  and  precision.  He  referred  to  and  deprecated 
the  fact  that  annexation  was  both  espoused  and  opposed  on 
sectional  grounds.  He  said  that  the  acquisition  of  territory 
for  the  purpose  of  strengthening  one  portion  of  the  country 
against  the  other  would  be  pregnant  with  fatal  consequences, 


PLOT  FOR  THE  ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS.        605 

He  declared  that  "  annexation  and  war  with  Mexico  are  iden  - 
tical "  ;  and  that  such  a  measure  at  that  time  would  compro^ 
mise  the  national  character,  be  dangerous  to  the  integrity  of 
the  Union,  and  be  inexpedient  in  the  then  financial  condition 
of  affairs,  and  that  it  was  not  called  for  by  any  general  expres 
sion  of  public  opinion. 

Two  weeks  after  the  publication  of  this  letter,  Mr.  Clay  was 
nominated  by  acclamation  for  the  presidency  at  the  Whig  con 
vention  at  Baltimore.  With  him  was  associated  Theodore 
Frelinghuysen,  a  gentleman  of  high  personal  worth  and  posi 
tion,  but  of  conservative  views  and  tendencies. 

The  Liberty  party,  too,  had  entered  the  contest  with  the 
name  of  James  G.  Birney  as  its  candidate  for  the  presidency, 
and  that  of  Thomas  Morris  of  Ohio  for  the  vice-presidency. 
On  all  the  issues  growing  out  of  the  existence  of  slavery  its 
principles  were  clearly  defined,  and  its  policy  distinctly  pro 
claimed,  "  the  absolute  and  unqualified  divorce  of  the  general 
government  from  slavery." 

Of  course  the  Abolitionists  who  adhered  to  the  American 
Antislavery  Society  and  its  auxiliaries  took  no  part  in  the 
election  except  to  criticise  each  of  the  parties,  its  policy,  and 
its  candidates.  They  announced  as  their  watchword  "  the  dis 
solution  of  all  union  between  liberty  and  slavery."  They  pro 
claimed  their  resolute  and  invincible  determination  to  arouse 
the  country  to  a  sense  of  its  danger,  and  the  necessity  of  reso 
lute  action. 


CHAPTER    XLIII. 

TEXAS   PLOT  CONSUMMATED. 

Presidential  Election.  —  The  Issue  distinctly  presented.  —  Position  of  the  Whig 
and  Democratic  Parties.  —  Embarrassing  Position  of  Antislavery  Men.  —  The 
Alabama  Letter.  —  Secret  Circular.  —  Mr.  Walker's  Letter.  —  Election  of  Mr. 
Polk.  — Meeting  of  Congress.  —  Mr.  Benton's  Bill.  —  Mr.  Hale's  Proposition. 
—  Mr.  Ingersoll's  Resolution.  —  Mr.  Hamlin's  Motion.  —  The  Debates.  — 
Adoption  of  Mr.  Brown's  Amendment.  —  Passage  of  the  Resolutions.  —  Re 
ported  against  by  the  Senate  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs.  —  Debates  in  the 
Senate.  —  Mr.  Walker's  Amendment.  —  Mr.  Miller's  Amendment.  —  Passage 
of  Joint  Resolutions.  —  Position  of  Southern  Whigs.  —  Weakness  or  Treach 
ery  of  Northern  Democrats.  —  Action  of  Mr.  Tyler.  —  Rejoicing  of  the  Friends 
of  Annexation. 

THE  adroit  leaders  of  the  Slave  Power  had  succeeded  in  for 
cing  upon  the  country  the  direct  issue  of  immediate  annexation. 
Never  had  the  nation  been  brought  to  confront  an  issue  so  pal 
pably  and  flagrantly  wrong,  and  never  had  it  presented  a 
more  sad  and  humiliating  spectacle.  Mankind  could  not  fail 
to  comprehend  that  it  involved  aggression,  conquest,  the  estab 
lishment  of  slavery  where  it  had  been  prohibited  by  Mexico, 
the  strengthening  of  the  slave  system  at  home,  and  the  con 
tinued  ascendency  of  the  slave-masters  in  the  United  States. 
Nor  could  the  civilized  world  fail  to  see  that  if  annexation  and 
war  were  identical,  the  banners  of  Mexico,  not  the  banners  of 
Christian  and  republican  America,  would  be  the  banners  of 
liberty  and  civilization. 

Though  painfully  awake  to  this  wickedness  and  ignominy, 
the  antislavery  opponents  of  annexation  were  so  few  in  num 
bers,  really  possessing  small  political  influence,  and  that 
diminished  by  other  complications,  that  they  felt  greatly  per 
plexed  and  had  grave  doubts  about  the  best  use  of  the  little 
political  power  they  did  possess.  A  vote  for  Mr.  Birney  was 
indeed  an  individual  commitment,  yet  hardly  more,  as  it  could 


TEXAS  PLOT   CONSUMMATED.  607 

contribute  little  or  nothing  to  prevent  the  impending  catastro 
phe  of  annexation.  A  vote  for  Mr.  Clay,  with  his  commitments 
and  the  commitments  of  his  party  North  and  South,  was  clearly 
a  vote  against  immediate  annexation.  But  such  were  the  con 
ditions  of  his  opposition  and  that  of  his  Southern  supporters, 
that  it  was  seen  that  they  could  be,  and  probably  would  be,  re 
moved  at  no  distant  day.  Mr.  Clay's  personal  position,  too, 
was  far  from  satisfactory.  His  life,  acts,  and  opinions  had 
given  no  assurance  that  he  opposed  annexation  on  the  ground 
that  it  would  strengthen  slavery.  On  the  contrary,  he  was 
known  to  entertain  and  to  have  expressed  the  opinion  that 
"  slavery  ought  not  to  affect  the  question  one  way  or  the 
other."  This  embarrassment  was  increased  by  his  Alabama 
letter  of  the  16th  of  August,  which  had  been  wrung  from  him 
by  the  importunity  of  Southern  Whigs,  who  seriously  felt  the 
sectional  pressure  of  the  advocates  of  annexation. 

In  this  unfortunate  letter,  believed  to  have  been  the  fatal 
obstacle  to  his  success,  he  expressed  the  opinion  that  annexa 
tion  would  not  prolong  or  shorten  the  duration  of  slavery, 
which  was  destined  to  become  extinct,  as  he  believed,  at  some 
distant  day,  by  the  inevitable  laws  of  population  ;  besides,  he 
said,  "  far  from  having  any  personal  objection  to  the  annexa 
tion  of  Texas,  I  should  be  glad  to  see  it,  without  dishonor, 
without  war,  with  the  common  consent  of  the  Union,  and 
upon  just  and  fair  terms."  Mr.  Clay's  Southern  supporters 
had  been  put  on  the  defensive,  while  those  in  the  North  had 
been  aggressive,  hopeful,  and  confident  of  victory.  This  letter 
reversed  their  positions.  "  It  placed,"  says  Mr.  Greeley,  ever 
Mr.  Clay's  admirer  and  devoted  friend,  "  the  Northern  advo 
cates  of  his  election  on  the  defensive  during  the  remainder  of 
the  canvass,  and  weakened  their  previous  hold  on  the  moral 
convictions  of  the  more  considerate  and  conscientious  voters 
of  the  free  States." 

In  a  subsequent  letter  Mr.  Clay  distinctly  avowed  that  there 
was  not  a  feeling,  a  sentiment,  or  an  opinion  expressed  in  his 
Raleigh  letter,  to  which  he  did  not  adhere ;  that  he  was  decid 
edly  opposed  to  immediate  annexation,  because  it  would  be 
dishonorable,  involve  the  nation  in  war,  be  dangerous  to  the 


608       RISE   AND   FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

integrity  and  harmony  of  the  Union,  and  could  not  be  effected 
upon  just  and  admissible  conditions.  But  these  apparently 
conflicting  declarations  served  only  to  confuse  the  public  mind, 
render  more  difficult  the  task  of  decision,  and  make  still  more 
obscure  the  path  of  duty.  Yet,  under  circumstances  so  well 
calculated  to  dishearten,  distract,  and  divide  the  opponents  of 
annexation,  more  than  sixty  thousand  men,  who  really  held 
the  result  in  their  own  hands,  voted  for  Mr.  Birney,  although 
they  were  morally  certain  he  could  not  receive  a  single  elec 
toral  vote. 

Few  were  so  blind  as  not  to  see  that  a  vote  for  Mr.  Polk  was 
a  vote  for  immediate  annexation.  When  his  nomination  was 
announced,  Northern  Democrats  were  greatly  incensed  at  the 
treatment  Mr.  Van  Buren  had  received.  Many  of  them  had 
warmly  approved  the  sentiments  of  his  letter  against  immedi 
ate  annexation,  and  had,  in  many  ways,  pronounced  against 
a  policy  which,  they  could  not  fail  to  see,  endangered  the  peace 
of  the  country,  besides  unreservedly  committing  the  nation  to 
the  extension  of  slavery.  Silas  Wright  had  voted  against  the 
treaty  of  annexation,  and  as  the  Democratic  candidate  for 
governor  of  New  York  he  had  proclaimed  in  the  canvass  his 
continued  hostility  to  that  measure.  Several  eminent  friends 
of  Mr.  Van  Buren  in  that  State  united  in  issuing  a  circular 
urging  Democrats,  while  supporting  Mr.  Polk,  to  repudiate  the 
Texan  scheme.  The  high  character  of  the  men  who  signed 
that  circular,  so  sharply  criticised  and  denounced  by  their  asso 
ciates,  is  an  assurance  of  the  purity  of  their  motives,  though 
a  more  fatuous  course  could  not  have  been  devised.  That  cir 
cular  and  the  declarations  of  Mr.  Wright  unquestionably  gave 
the  controlling  vote  of  the  great  State  of  New  York  to  Mr. 
Polk,  made  the  immediate  annexation  of  Texas  inevitable, 
and  crowned  the  continued  intrigues  and  plottings  of  the 
Slave  Power  with  signal  triumph. 

During  that  evenly  balanced  and  hotly  contested  canvass 
seductive  appeals  were  made  to  the  selfishness  of  the  North. 
Robert  J.  Walker,  perhaps  more  than  any  other  man  the 
organizing  and  effective  agent  of  that  slavery-extending  plot, 
issued  a  long  and  elaborate  letter,  written  with  the  power  and 


TEXAS  PLOT   CONSUMMATED.  609 

tact  of  which  he  was  an  acknowledged  master,  appealing  to 
the  cupidity  of  the  commercial,  manufacturing,  and  moneyed 
interests  of  the  land.  The  acquisition  of  Texas,  he  claimed, 
would  largely  increase  Southern  production,  and  thus  promote 
the  shipping,  mercantile,  and  mechanical  interests  of  the  non- 
slaveholding  States.  Nor  did  he  miscalculate.  The  lust  of 
dominion,  the  greed  of  gain,  and  the  love  of  office,  silencing 
the  voice  of  patriotism,  honor,  and  conscience,  gave  a  tran 
scendent  victory  to  the  Slave  Power. 

He  used,  too,  the  language  of  warning.  "  Let  it  be  known," 
he  said,  "  and  proclaimed  as  a  certain  truth,  and  as  a  result 
which  can  never  hereafter  be  challenged  or  recalled,  that  upon 
the  refusal  of  annexation,  now  and  in  all  time  to  come,  the 
tariff  as  a  practical  measure  fails  wholly  and  forever,  and  we 
shall  hereafter  be  compelled  to  resort  to  direct  taxes  to  sup 
port  the  government."  This  menace,  aimed  at  the  friends  of 
domestic  industry,  was  not  wholly  without  effect.  But  those 
who  were  in  any  degree  influenced  by  it  lived  to  see  the  pro 
tective  policy,  under  the  lead  of  Mr.  Walker  himself,  over 
thrown,  and  the  free-trade  tariff  of  1846  carried  by  the  votes 
of  Texan  senators. 

On  the  first  Monday  of  December,  1844,  the  XXVIIIth 
Congress  commenced  its  closing  session.  Emboldened  by  the 
manifest  significance  of  the  election,  the  advocates  of  annexa 
tion  entered  at  once  on  the  work  of  its  consummation.  Presi 
dent  Tyler  in  his  message  called  for  immediate  action.  He 
claimed  that  the  verdict  of  the  people  had  been  decisively 
expressed  upon  the  issue  of  annexation,  which  had  been 
nakedly  presented  to  their  consideration.  He  expressed  the 
hope  that  Congress,  in  carrying  into  execution  the  public  will, 
clearly  proclaimed  by  a  controlling  majority  of  the  people  and 
by  a  large  majority  of  the  States,  would  avoid  all  collateral 
issues  and  press  at  once  towards  the  consummation  he  had 
so  much  at  heart.  For  Mr.  Tyler  was  not  only  influenced  by 
the  ordinary  motives  which  impelled  the  South  to  seek  for 
annexation,  but  he  desired,  if  possible,  to  signalize  his  admin 
istration  by  an  event  of  so  much  importance  to  slavery  and 
to  slaveholders. 

77 


610        RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

Resolutions  of  admission  were  introduced  into  the  Senate 
on  the  10th,  by  Mr.  McDuffie  of  South  Carolina.  On  the  llth, 
Mr.  Benton  introduced  a  bill,  providing  that  a  State,  to  be 
called  "  the  State  of  Texas,  with  boundaries  fixed  by  herself," 
not  exceeding  in  size  the  largest  State,  be  admitted  into  the 
Union,  the  remainder  of  the  annexed  territory  to  be  held  by 
the  United  States  and  to  be  called  the  "  Southwest  Territory." 
This  bill  further  provided  that  the  existence  of  slavery  should 
be  forever  prohibited  in  that  part  of  the  Territory  west  of 
the  100°  of  longitude,  so  as  to  divide  equally  the  whole  an 
nexed  territory  between  the  slaveholding  and  non-slaveholding 
States. 

In  the  House,  on  the  10th  of  January,  John  P.  Hale,  then  a 
Democratic  representative  from  New  Hampshire,  moved  the 
suspension  of  the  rules  to  allow  him  to  introduce  a  proposition 
to  divide  Texas  into  two  parts,  by  a  line  beginning  at  a  point 
on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  midway  between  the  northern  and 
southern  boundaries,  and  running  in  a  northwesterly  direc 
tion.  In  the  territory  south  and  west  of  that  line  it  was  pro 
vided  there  should  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servi 
tude,  and  that  provision  was  forever  to  remain  an  unalterable 
compact.  The  motion  received  eleven  majority,  but,  requiring 
a  two-thirds  vote,  it  failed. 

On  the  12th,  Charles  J.  Ingersoll,  chairman  of  the  Commit 
tee  on  Foreign  Relations  in  the  House,  introduced  resolutions 
of  annexation.  Resolutions  were  also  introduced  by  John  B. 
Weller  of  Ohio,  Stephen  A.  Douglas  of  Illinois,  and  several 
other  Democratic  members.  Mr.  Hamlin  of  Maine,  then  a 
Democratic  member,  moved  to  refer  these  resolutions  to  a 
select  committee  of  one  from  each  State,  with  instructions  to 
report  whether  Congress  had  power  to  annex  a  foreign,  inde 
pendent  nation  ;  whether  annexation  would  not  extend  slav 
ery  ;  whether  by  the  acknowledgment  of  Texan  independence 
Mexico  was  deprived  of  her  right  to  reconquer  that  province  ; 
whether  Texas  owed  any  debts,  and  what  treaties  she  had 
with  other  powers.  But  his  motion  was  rejected.  The  sev 
eral  propositions  were  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign 
Affairs. 


TEXAS  PLOT   CONSUMMATED.  611 

On  the  3d  of  January  the  House,  on  motion  of  Mr. 
Ingersoll,  proceeded  to  the  consideration  of  the  joint  resolu 
tions  he  had  reported.  Mr.  Weller  moved  to  amend  by  strik 
ing  out  all  after  the  enacting  clause  and  substituting  the  reso 
lutions  he  had  introduced,  and  Mr.  Douglas  moved  to  amend 
Mr.  Weller's  amendment  by  substituting  for  it  the  resolutions 
he  had  introduced. 

In  the  debate  which  was  then  opened  were  exhibited  the 
different  views  and  shades  of  opinion  evoked  by  this  rash 
and  radical  measure  thus  precipitated  on  the  nation  by  the 
Slave  Power.  As  it  was  a  question  of  power,  rather  than  of 
reason,  of  might  more  than  of  right,  the  advocates  of  the 
measure  prudently  abstained  from  any  great  show  of  argu 
ment.  As  none  but  the  most  violent  and  outspoken  would 
avow  the  real  reason,  eulogies  on  the  compromises  of  the 
Constitution,  clamors  for  peace  and  concession,  and  diatribes 
against  the  aggressions  of  the  Abolitionists,  constituted  the 
staple  of  the  speeches  in  its  defence.  Against  the  measure 
there  was  greater  variety,  embracing  the  language  of  those  who 
opposed  it  on  the  high  ground  of  principle  ;  Northern  Demo 
crats  who  deprecated  its  influence  on  their  party  strength  ;  and 
the  Southern  Whigs,  who  feared  its  effects  on  the  country  arid 
even  on  slavery  itself.  Opening  the  debate,  Mr.  Ingersoll 
referred  to  the  many  plans  that  had  been  introduced  into 
the  House,  proving,  he  said,  that  many  coveted  the  honor  of 
being  the  advocates  of  the  admission  of  Texas.  But  for  slav 
ery  the  American  people  were  united  for  the  measure.  He 
avowed  that  "  it  is  undeniable  that  Southern  interests,  South 
ern  frontiers  and  Southern  institutions  —  I  mean  slavery  and 
all  —  are  to  be  primarily  regarded  in  settling  the  restoration 
of  Texas." 

One  of  the  earliest  and  ablest  to  participate  in  the  debate 
was  William  L.  Yancey  of  Alabama.  A  disciple  of  Calhoun 
and  an  eloquent  defender  of  his  principles,  he  clearly  com 
prehended  and  frankly  admitted  the  necessities  of  slavery  in 
its  competition  with  freedom.  Referring  to  statistics  which 
showed  that  the  slaveholding  States  were  losing  "  relative 
strength  in  the  representative  branch  of  the  government," 


612       RISE  AND  FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

he  declared  that  they  had  compromised  away  all  possibility  of 
retaining  an  equality  in  the  Senate  by  the  fatal  Missouri  Com 
promise,  and  that  a  fearful  prospective  inequality  stared  them 
in  the  face.  Complaining  that  the  world  was  arrayed  against 
them,  that  their  "  favorite  institution  "  was  attacked  day  after 
day,  month  after  month,  and  year  after  year,  he  avowed  that 
"  the  highest  consideration  of  individual,  sectional,  and  na 
tional  interests  urge  us  on  to  annexation." 

Mr.  Holmes  of  South  Carolina  pronounced  that  Southern 
man  a  fool  or  a  knave  who  would  divide  Texas  between  free 
dom  and  slavery;  and  Mr.  Rhett  of  the  same  State  said, 
"  The  South  has  been  wantonly  wronged,  insulted,  and  be 
trayed."  He  charged  the  people  of  the  North  with  the  offence 
of  laboring  "  to  instigate  hatred,  insurrection,  and  violence," 
which  rendered  Texas,  in  the  Southern  mind,  necessary  to 
insure  the  domestic  tranquillity  they  had  disturbed. 

Moses  Norris,  a  Democratic  member  from  New  Hampshire, 
bitterly  assailed  the  Abolitionists.  He  charged  that  while 
they  had  "  liberty  and  philanthropy  on  the  folds  of  their  flag, 
they  were  arming  themselves  to  overthrow  the  Constitution 
and  break  up  the  Confederacy." 

Andrew  Johnson  of  Tennessee,  afterward  President  of  the 
United  States,  said  that  annexation  would  give  the  govern 
ment  the  command  of  the  Gulf,  that  streams  of  wealth  would 
flow  from  her  mines  and  fertile  fields,  and  that  the  profitable 
employment  of  slave  labor  there  would  enable  the  master  to 
soften  the  condition  of  the  bondmen  ;  and;-  singularly  enough, 
he  contended  that  annexation  would  "  prove  to  be  the  gateway 
out  of  which  the  sable  sons  of  Africa  are  to  pass  from  bond 
age  to  freedom  where  they  can  become  merged  in  a  population 
congenial  with  themselves,  who  know  and  feel  no  distinc 
tion  in  consequence  of  the  various  hues  of  skin  or  crosses  of 
blood." 

In  a  very  different  strain  spoke  Mr.  Rathbun,  a  member  of 
the  same  party  from  New  York.  He  characterized  with  stern 
severity  the  resolution,  and  denounced  the  Northern  member 
who  should  vote  for  it.  "  He  braves,"  he  said,  "  the  public 
opinion  of  the  North  ;  he  scorns  the  interests  of  the  North ; 


TEXAS   PLOT   CONSUMMATED.  613 

he  arouses  the  indignation  of  the  North  ;  he  fixes  upon  him 
self  a  mark  which  time  cannot  efface." 

Among  the  Northern  Whigs  a  similar  variety  appears.  Mr. 
Winthrop  of  Massachusetts  opposed  the  project  because,  he 
argued,  it  was  unconstitutional  in  substance,  would  violate 
the  compromises  of  the  Constitution,  would  endanger  the  per 
manence  of  the  Union  ;  and  because  he  was  u  uncompromis 
ingly  opposed  to  slavery,  or  the  addition  of  another  inch  of 
slaveholding  territory  to  the  nation." 

Colonel  John  J.  Harding  of  Illinois,  who  afterward  fell  at 
the  head  of  his  regiment  at  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista,  charac 
terized  annexation  "  as  an  unwise,  reckless,  selfish,  sectional, 
and  slavery-extending  policy."  He  reminded  Southern  gen 
tlemen  who  had  pictured  in  their  imagination  a  Southern 
confederacy,  that  the  free  States  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
Rivers  would  hold  the  latter  to  its  mouth  against  the  united 
chivalry  of  the  South,  and  that  if  dissolution  took  place,  either 
in  consequence  of  the  Texas  scheme,  or  from  any  other  cause, 
their  confederacy  must  be  wholly  east  of  the  Mississippi. 

Daniel  D.  Barnard  of  New  York  made  a  learned  and  able 
constitutional  argument  against  the  Joint  Resolution,  denoun 
cing  it  as  being  framed  "  in  contempt  of  the  Constitution." 
"  The  measure  of  annexation  is,"  he  said,  "  wild,  bold,  and 
extravagant  enough  in  itself,  considered  in  the  light  of  the 
Constitution,  but  it  is  a  thousand  times  more  wild,  bold,  and 
extravagant  when  taken  in  connection  with  slavery." 

Mr.  Hamlin  of  Ohio  spoke  earnestly  in  deprecation  of  the 
measure,  and  drew  gloomy  presages  of  its  effect  upon  the 
reputation  and  subsequent  political  history  of  the  nation.  It 
will  present  the  humiliating  spectacle,  he  said,  of  the  republic 
standing  forth  unblushingly  before  the  world  as  the  defender 
of  slavery.  No  stranger  could  read  the  correspondence  of  the 
Secretary  of  State  without  feeling  that  "  we  have  no  other  god 
but  the  god  of  slavery."  "  The  people  of  the  North,"  he  said, 
"  have  reaped  the  bitter  fruits  of  the  Missouri  Compromise, 
and  have  seen  and  felt  the  iron  rule  of  slavery."  He  predicted 
that  if  slavery  should  then  triumph,  the  line  dividing  parties 
would  henceforth  be  between  freedom  and  slavery,  and  "  the 


614       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWEE   IN  AMERICA. 

South  will  then  find  not  only  that  the  sceptre  has  departed 
from  Judah  and  a  lawgiver  from  between  his  feet,  but  that 
the  Shiloh  of  the  slave  has  come." 

It  remained  for  Mr.  Giddings  to  place  his  opposition  and 
that  of  those  he  represented  on  the  high  plane  of  moral  recti 
tude,  and  to  draw  his  arguments,  motives,  and  appeals  from 
the  precepts  of  Christianity  as  well  as  from  the  workings  of 
nature.  "  Do  we  believe,"  he  inquired,  "  that  there  is  a  power 
above  us  that  will  visit  national  sins  with  national  judgments  ? 
I  am  one  who  solemnly  believes  that  transgressions  and  pun 
ishments  are  inseparably  connected  with  the  inscrutable  wis 
dom  of  God's  providence.  With  this  impression  I  feel  as 
confident  that  chastisement  and  tribulation  for  the  offences 
we  have  committed  against  the  down-trodden  sons  of  Africa 
await  this  people  as  I  do  that  justice  controls  the  destinies  of 
nations  and  guides  the  power  of  Omnipotence." 

On  the  13th  of  January,  Milton  Brown,  a  Tennessee  Whig, 
introduced  into  the  House  a  joint  resolution  declaring  the 
terms  on  which  Congress  will  admit  Texas  into  the  Union  as 
a  State ;  and  on  the  same  day,  Mr.  Foster,  another  Tennessee 
Whig,  introduced  the  same  resolution  into  the  Senate.  The 
opponents  of  annexation  had  relied  upon  a  majority  in  the 
House  against  that  measure.  Several  Democratic  members, 
who  had  been  confidently  relied  upon  to  oppose  it,  under  the 
influence  of  an  incoming  administration  pledged  to  the  meas 
ure,  were  evidently  hesitating  and  faltering.  It  had  not  been 
anticipated,  however,  that  any  Whig  member  would  vote  for 
it.  But  the  action  of  Mr.  Brown  created  no  little  anxiety  and 
alarm. 

After  this  earnest  and  excited  debate,  which  continued  until 
the  25th  of  January,  the  voting  was  commenced.  Mr.  Doug 
las's  amendments,  as  well  as  several  others,  offered  to  Mr. 
Weller's  amendment  to  the  resolution  reported  by  the  Commit 
tee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  having  been  rejected,  Mr.  Brown  moved 
to  strike  out  Mr.  Weller's  amendment  and  insert  the  resolutions 
he  had  introduced.  At  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Douglas,  he  so 
modified  it  as  to  provide  that  slavery  should  be  prohibited  in 
so  much  of  Texas  as  lay  north  of  the  Missouri  Compromise 


TEXAS   PLOT   CONSUMMATED.  615 

line.  His  amendment  was  then  agreed  to  by  ten  majority, 
then  substituted  for  the  original  resolutions  of  the  Committee 
on  Foreign  Affairs  by  a  majority  of  seventeen,  and  then  passed 
by  a  majority  of  twenty-two. 

Instead  of  a  majority  of  thirty  against  it,  which  had  been 
anticipated,  upon  estimates  based  upon  former  votes  and 
avowals,  and  upon  pledges  which  had  been  made  to  a  com 
mittee  appointed  by  a  Whig  caucus  to  canvass  the  House, 
there  was  a  majority  of  more  than  twenty  for  it.  Whence  that 
change  ?  Many  of  the  agencies  which  wrought  it  were  patent 
to  the  country.  The  results  of  the  presidential  election,  the 
known  opinions  and  purposes  of  the  President  elect,  the 
patronage  of  the  incoming  administration,  the  intense  ac 
tivity  and  growing  power  of  the  slaveholding  interest,  were 
potent  influences,  and  contributed  mainly  to  this  result.  But 
there  were  many  who,  watching  that  struggle,  believed  that 
Texas  scrip  had  much  to  do  in  that  work  of  demoralization. 

The  Joint  Resolution  was  introduced  in  the  Senate  and 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  of  which  Mr. 
Archer  of  Virginia  was  chairman.  Although  from  a  slave- 
holding  State,  he  promptly  recommended  its  indefinite  post 
ponement.  But  Mr.  Buchanan,  a  member  of  the  committee, 
then  as  ever  afterward,  even  to  the  close  of  his  feeble  and  dis 
astrous  administration,  derelict  to  his  section,  a  serviceable 
instrument  of  the  Slave  Power,  more  truly  deserving  than  he 
to  whom  it  was  originally  applied  the  appellation  of  a  "  North 
ern  man  with  Southern  principles,"  opposed  the  action  of  the 
committee,  and  made  an  elaborate  argument  in  favor  of  the 
constitutionality  of  admitting  Texas  by  Joint  Resolution. 

Rufus  Choate  of  Massachusetts  made  a  brilliant  and  elo 
quent  speech  in  opposition,  both  on  the  ground  of  power  and 
expediency.  We  could  not,  he  contended,  admit  Texas  by  the 
joint  resolution  of  the  House,  "  if  it  would  insure  a  thousand 
years  of  liberty  to  the  Union,  if,  like  the  fabled  garden  of 
old,  its  rivers  should  run  pearls  and  its  trees  bear  imperial 
fruit  of  gold, —  yet  even  then  we  could  not  admit  her,  because 
it  would  sin  against  the  Constitution." 

William  L.  Dayton  of  New  Jersey,  then  a  Whig,  afterward 


616        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

the  first  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency  of  the  Republican 
party,  and  subsequently  minister  to  France  during  the  Rebel 
lion,  made  an  able  argument  against  the  passage  of  the  Joint 
Resolution.  Mr.  Archer  declared  that  "  a  blow  parricidal  is 
now  aimed  against  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States." 
Mr.  Buchanan,  who  was  to  be  Secretary  of  State  of  the  incom 
ing  administration,  on  the  other  hand,  protested  that  in  voting 
for  the  resolution  he  was  performing  the  greatest  public  act  of 
his  life.  "  I  shall,"  he  said,  "  do  it  cheerfully,  gladly,  glori 
ously,  because  I  believe  my  vote  will  confer  blessings  innu 
merable  on  my  fellow-men,  now,  henceforward,  and  forever." 

Several  senators  participated  in  the  debate,  which  continued 
to  the  27th  of  February.  It  was  moved  by  Mr.  Foster  of  Ten 
nessee  that  the  Joint  Resolution  be  amended  so  as  to  provide 
that  so  much  of  the  territory  as  lay  south  of  the  Missouri  Com 
promise  line  should  be  admitted  with  or  without  slavery,  as 
each  State  should  determine,  but  the  motion  was  rejected.  An 
amendment  was  then  moved  by  Mr.  Walker  of  Mississippi, 
proposing  further  negotiations  if  deemed  advisable  by  the  Ex 
ecutive.  This  adroit  move  was  intended  to  smooth  the  way 
by  which  Benton,  Dix,  Niles,  and  other  Democratic  senators, 
who  had  opposed  the  treaty,  might  vote  for  the  measure. 

Mr.  Foster  declared  he  would  vote  for  the  House  resolu 
tion  without,  but  not  with,  the  amendment,  as  it  was  intended 
to  "  qualify  a  great  act."  He  proceeded  to  express  his  want 
of  confidence  in  the  North,  and  wished  those  who  were  mak 
ing  outcries  against  slavery  would  go  to  the  South  and  "  see 
how  happy  is  the  black  man,  and  compare  him  with  the  penury 
of  the  East."  The  Walker  amendment  was  agreed  to  by  two 
majority.  Mr.  Crittenden  wished  to  make  the  mode  of  admis 
sion  definite.  If  it  was  the  intention  of  Congress  to  admit 
Texas  by  treaty,  let  it  say  so  ;  if  by  resolution,  let  it  say  so  ; 
and  not  leave  the  mode  discretionary  with  the  President.  He 
moved  an  amendment  to  that  effect ;  but  his  motion  was  lost 
by  a  single  vote. 

Mr.  Miller  of  New  Jersey  moved  to  strike  out  the  House 
resolution,  and  insert  in  substance  the  bill  which  Mr.  Benton 
had  introduced  early  in  the  session ;  and  he  expressed  the  hope 


TEXAS  PLOT   CONSUMMATED.  617 

that  the  senator  from  Missouri  would  support  it,  and  "  not 
destroy  his  own  child."  But  that  senator,  having  yielded  to 
the  influences  at  work,  promptly  and  ostentatiously  responded, 
"  I  '11  kill  it  stone-dead  !  "  This  declaration  was  vociferously 
applauded  by  the  galleries.  This  sudden  change  in  Mr.  Ben- 
ton's  position  was  rendered  more  significant  from  his  previous 
course,  his  determined  and  violent  opposition  to  the  meas 
ure.  He  had  declared  it  "  an  act  of  unparalleled  outrage  on 
Mexico,"  of  which  he  "  washed  his  hands."  Indeed,  he  had 
been  regarded  by  both  friend  and  foe  as  holding  the  fate  of 
the  measure  at  his  disposal.  But  notwithstanding  all  his  ante 
cedents,  his  positive  and  dogmatic  assertion,  so  characteristic 
of  the  man,  he  weakly  yielded  to,  if  he  did  not  fabricate,  the 
specious  but  shallow  device  proposed  by  Walker. 

Mr.  Tyler  was  known  to  be  fiercely  intent  on  annexation, 
and  this  device  gave  him  absolute  power  to  consummate  the 
act  during  the  few  remaining  days  of  his  administration. 
The  unwritten  history  of  that  transaction  may  never  be  fully 
known,  and  the  actual  influences  which  induced  the  somer 
sault  of  the  veteran  senator  may  never  be  revealed.  Without 
such  explanation,  however,  there  was  in  it  the  not  infrequent 
or  unprecedented  occurrence  that  a  Southern  slaveholder,  in 
the  presence  of  an  assumed  necessity  of  slavery,  allowed 
that  necessity  to  be  paramount,  and  to  override  all  other  con 
siderations.  The  amendment  proposed  by  Mr.  Miller  received 
but  eleven  votes,  and  the  Joint  Resolution  was  then  adopted 
by  a  majority  of  two.  The  House  hastened  to  concur  by  a 
majority  of  more  than  fifty. 

In  the  House  four  Whigs  voted  for  the  measure.  Of  that 
number  was  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  who  afterward  joined  the 
Democracy,  became  vice-president  of  the  Confederacy,  whose 
"  corner-stone  "  he  declared  slavery  to  be,  and  who  continued 
to  maintain  its  principles,  though  they  had  been  so  signally 
overborne  and  overthrown  by  the  valor  and  vote  of  the  nation. 
In  the  Senate,  Merrick  of  Maryland,  Henderson  of  Missis 
sippi,  and  Johnson  of  Louisiana,  also  Whigs,  voted  for  it 
avowedly  because  it  was  a  measure  essentially  Southern  in 
its  character  and  purposes,  and  tended  to  promote  domestic 

78 


618        KISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

tranquillity  in  the  States  they  represented.  But  the  large 
majority  of  the  Southern  Whigs  steadily  opposed  and  cast 
their  votes  against  the  Joint  Resolution.  Nor  was  their 
stand  maintained  without  personal  sacrifice  and  hazard.  In 
deed  there  were  none,  not  even  the  friends  of  freedom,  who 
were  more  sorely  tried  than  were  the  better  and  more  thought 
ful  portion  of  the  Southern  Whigs.  For  they  not  only  felt  a 
sectional  pressure  and  saw  agencies  at  work  which  threat 
ened  party  disruption  and  defeat,  but  they  wisely  dreaded  the 
effects  of  these  violent  and  revolutionary  proceedings  upon  the 
nation,  and  even  upon  slavery  itself. 

Claiming  fealty  to  Southern  institutions,  and  disavowing  all 
sympathy  with  abolitionism,  they  based  their  opposition  to 
the  scheme  on  constitutional  grounds  and  those  of  expediency. 
They  denied  the  right  of  admitting  foreign  territory  by  legis 
lative  resolution,  and  protested  against  the  bill  as  a  clear  and 
palpable  violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
This  position  was  ably  argued  by  the  Virginia  senators,  Archer 
and  Rives,  both  of  whom,  in  the  words  of  the  first,  "  lifted  a 
determined  though  unavailing  voice  against  this  blow  of  parri 
cide  struck  at  the  Constitution  "  ;  the  latter  declaring  it  to  be 
"  a  dangerous  and  revolutionary  precedent."  Of  their  position 
Mr.  Berrien  of  Georgia,  while  claiming  to  "  stand  on  Southern 
ground  and  in  vindication  of  Southern  rights,"  said  that  they 
stood  "  unmoved,  immovable,  resting  on  its  own  firm  founda 
tion  like  some  giant  rock  against  which  the  waves  of  the  ocean 
break  in  their  fury  only  to  be  thrown  back  in  their  impotence." 
He  declared  also  that  the  acquisition  of  Texas  in  this  uncon 
stitutional  manner  would  be  "  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  peace  and 
harmony  of  the  Union."  "  The  feeling,"  he  said,  "  which 
will  be  aroused  in  vast  multitudes  of  that  people,  by  what  they 
will  deem  a  flagrant  usurpation  of  power  which  they  have 
never  delegated,  is  too  deep,  too  strong,  too  abiding  to  be 
repressed  ;  and  it  may  not  be  sported  with.  The  power  of  the 
government  cannot  check  it.  The  patronage  of  the  govern 
ment  will  not  seduce  it.  Nay,  the  iron  rule  of  party,  that 
image  of  omnipotence  here  below,  will  not,  cannot  control  it." 

Characterizing  the  correspondence   of  Secretaries   Upshur 


TEXAS   PLOT   CONSUMMATED.  619 

and  Calhoun  "  as  a  deplorable  humiliation  of  diplomatic  char 
acter  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,"  Mr.  Rayner  of  North  Carolina 
said  that  by  putting  the  annexation  of  Texas  so  squarely  on 
the  slavery  issue,  the  South  had  been  driven  from  its  "  impreg 
nable  position  "  that  slavery  was  an  institution  that  neither 
Congress  nor  the  people  of  the  North  could  constitutionally 
interfere  with.  "  If  we  admit,"  he  said,  "  that  the  general  gov 
ernment  can  interpose  to  extend  slavery  as  a  blessing,  we  must 
also  admit  that  it  can  interfere  to  arrest  it  as  an  evil."  Avow 
ing  himself  as  an  unqualified  advocate  of  Southern  interests 
and  ready  to  "  hang  an  Abolitionist  without  the  form  of  trial 
for  disseminating  his  hellish  doctrines,"  he  said  he  scorned  to 
ask  of  the  North  any  other  aid  than  the  performance  of  its 
constitutional  obligations.  He  expressed  his  great  regret  that 
the  Whigs  had  .not  presented  an  unbroken  phalanx  in  opposi 
tion  to  the  measure,  and  he  predicted  that  this  sudden  change 
of  front  in  face  of  the  enemy  would  prove  fatal  to  the  party. 

The  Joint  Resolution  was  approved  on  the  2d  of  March. 
The  next  day,  President  Tyler  despatched  a  messenger  to 
Texas  to  secure  her  assent,  which,  like  the  executive  ap 
proval,  was  but  too  readily  given  ;  and  thus  was  consum 
mated  the  scheme  audaciously  conceived,  skilfully  planned, 
boldly  and  persistently  prosecuted,  and  successfully  accom 
plished. 

Twenty-three  Democratic  members  of  the  House  had  voted 
against  the  passage  of  the  Joint  Resolution.  All  but  three  or 
four,  however,  voted  for  concurring  with  the  Senate  in  the 
Walker  amendment.  Their  votes  were  a  surprise  and  a  regret. 
It  will  ever  remain  a  marvel  that  honest  and  intelligent  men 
could  have  been  caught  by  a  device  so  transparent.  Surely 
they  were  not  surprised  when  Mr.  Tyler  eagerly  accepted  the 
power  thus  given  him,  and  at  once  secured  for  his  administra 
tion  the  coveted  honor  which  he  had  so  long  and  so  earnestly 
sought. 

This  vote  of  the  House,  concurring  in  the  Senate  amend 
ment,  ended  the  contest.  It  was  taken  on  the  evening  of  the 
28th  of  February.  On  its  announcement,  it  was  hailed  with 
every  demonstration  of  uproarious  delight,  by  bonfires,  illu- 


620        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

minations,  and  volleys  of  artillery,  by  social  revelry  and 
mutual  congratulations.  The  scrip-holders,  land-jobbers,  and 
flesh-jobbers  gloated  over  their  anticipated  profits,  the  slave- 
holding  chiefs  over  their  grandest  victory,  and  the  Democratic 
leaders,  but  too  well  assured,  over  the  prospect  of  long-con 
tinued  ascendency.  Amid  these  flashing  lights  and  jubilant 
sounds  there  were,  however,  thoughtful  men  whose  hearts 
throbbed  heavily  over  that  new  dishonor  to  the  nation  and 
the  darkening  future  of  their  country.  The  fearless  and  ever- 
faithful  Giddings  gave  expression  to  the  thoughts  and  feelings 
of  thousands  of  his  countrymen,  as  he  thus  described  his  emo 
tions  on  the  evening  of  that  fatal  day.  "  Pensively  and  alone," 
said  he,  "  the  writer  walked  to  his  lodgings.  Never  before  had 
he  viewed  his  country  as  he  then  saw  it.  The  exultation  of 
slave-breeders  and  slave-dealers,  at  thus  controlling  the  Con 
gress  of  the  United  States,  constituted  a  spectacle  that  he 
had  not  expected  to  witness.  The  barbarous  war,  the  blood 
shed,  the  devastation,  the  corruption,  and  the  civil  war  which 
resulted  from  this  triumph  of  the  Slave  Power  were,  at  no 
subsequent  period  of  his  life,  more  vividly  before  his  mind 
than  they  were  that  evening,  while  alone  in  his  room,  con 
templating  the  results  that  would  naturally  follow  the  action 
of  Congress  on  that  sad  day." 


CHAPTER    XLIV. 

VERMONT  AND    MASSACHUSETTS.  —  JOHN   P.    HALE.  —  CASSIUS    M. 

CLAY. 

Action  of  Vermont  and  Massachusetts.  —  Massachusetts  Anti-Texas  Conven 
tion.  —  Prescriptive  Policy  of  the  New  Administration.  —  John  P.  Hale.  — 
Address  to  his  Constituents.  —  Denounced  by  the  Democrats  of  New  Hamp 
shire. —  His  Nomination  withdrawn. — Appeal  to  the  People.  —  "Indepen 
dent  Democrats."  —  The  State  canvassed  by  Mr.  Hale.  —  Speeches  of  Hale  and 
Pierce.  —  Coalition  between  the  Whigs  and  Independent  Democrats.  —  The 

•  Democracy  defeated.  —  Mr.  Hale  elected  United  States  Senator.  —  Brave  Fight 
in  the  Senate.  —  Cassius  M.  Clay.  —  Opposes  the  Annexation  of  Texas.  — 
Visits  the  Northern  States.  —  Advocates  the  Election  of  Mr.  Clay.  —  Eeturns 
to  Kentucky. — Issues  an  Address  to  the  People. — Establishes  the  "True 
American."  —  Boldly  denounces  Slaveholding. — Exasperation  of  Slavehold 
ers.  —  They  demand  the  Suppression  of  the  Paper.  —  Refusal  to  comply  with 
the  Demand.  —  The  Paper  forcibly  suppressed.  —  Mr.  Clay  appeals  to  the 
People.  —  Re-establishes  his  Paper. 

SEVERAL  State  legislatures  had  passed  resolutions  against 
the  annexation  of  Texas.  Those  of  Vermont  and  Massachu 
setts  were  among  the  first  to  express  opposition  to  the  growing 
demands  of  the  Slave  Power.  They  had  vindicated  the  right 
of  petition  and  freedom  of  debate ;  pronounced  in  favor  of  the 
abolition  of  slavery  and  the  slave-trade  in  the  District  of  Co 
lumbia,  the  prohibition  of  the  coastwise  slave-trade,  and  of 
slavery  in  the  Territories  ;  and  against  the  annexation  of  Texas, 
and  the  admission  of  any  more  slave  States.  Indeed,  for  sev 
eral  years  their  voice  had  been  clear  and  distinct  in  behalf  of 
freedom. 

The  uncompromising,  aggressive,  and  persistent  action  of 
the  Abolitionists,  the  brave  fight  of  John  Quincy  Adams  in 
Congress  for  the  right  of  petition  and  of  the  freedom  of  de 
bate,  and  the  clearly  pronounced  sentiments  of  her  legislature, 
had  placed  Massachusetts  not  only  in  a  conspicuous,  but  in  a 


622       RISE   AND  FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

leading,  position  among  her  sister  States.  This  was  acknowl 
edged  by  friend  and  foe,  —  by  the  first  with  hope  and  trust,  by 
the  latter  with  hatred  and  hostility.  The  Democratic  party, 
however,  though  at  first  joining  in  resistance  to  slaveholding 
demands,  had  early  yielded  to  the  seductive  influences  of 
power,  while  the  Whigs  continued  firmly  to  maintain  their 
position.  The  latter  had  proclaimed  their  unalterable  deter 
mination  to  resist  the  consummation  of  the  Texan  scheme,  and 
had  fought  with  unity  and  vigor  the  presidential  contest  of 
1844,  upon  which  its  immediate  fate  depended.  But,  after  the 
defeat  of  Mr.  Clay  and  the  popular  triumph  of  the  friends  of 
annexation,  defections  in  the  Whig  party  began  to  manifest 
themselves. 

When  the  legislature  assembled  in  1845,  Governor  Briggs 
called  attention  to  the  impending  danger  of  annexation.  Reso 
lutions  were  promptly  reported  by  Joseph  Bell,  a  lawyer  of 
eminence  and  a  gentleman  of  conservative  opinions,  denying 
the  constitutional  power  of  Congress  to  annex  a  foreign  nation 
by  legislation  ;  declaring  that  such  act  of  annexation  would 
have  no  binding  effect  upon  the  people  of  Massachusetts  ;  and 
affirming  that  she  "  will  never  consent,  where  she  is  not  already 
bound,  to  place  her  own  free  sons  on  any  other  basis  than  that 
of  perfect  equality  with  freemen ;  and,  last  of  all,  and  more 
than  all,  she  will  never  by  any  act  or  deed  give  her  consent  to 
the  further  extension  of  slavery  to  any  portion  of  the  world." 

These  unequivocal  declarations  received  the  emphatic  in 
dorsement  of  a  four-fifths  vote  in  the  House.  When  they  came 
up  for  consideration  in  the  Senate,  Mr.  Wilson  of  Middlesex 
County  moved  an  amendment  to  the  effect  that,  if  Texas  should 
be  admitted  by  a  legislative  act,  that  act  could  and  ought  to 
be  repealed  at  the  earliest  possible  moment.  After  an  earnest 
debate,  that  amendment  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  twenty-four 
to  eight ;  in  the  minority  were  Charles  Francis  Adams,  Linus 
Child,  and  Nathaniel  B.  Borden.  The  resolutions  were  then 
unanimously  adopted. 

Nor  were  the  protestations  of  the  people  of  Massachusetts 
confined  to  these  declarations  of  her  legislature.  A  State  con 
vention,  called  by  gentlemen  of  capacity,  experience,  and  large 


VERMONT   AND   MASSACHUSETTS.  623 

influence,  without  distinction  of  party,  was  held  on  the  29th 
of  January,  in  Faneuil  Hall.  It  was  large  in  numbers  and 
strong  in  talent  and  character.  All  portions  of  the  Common 
wealth  were  represented  by  delegates  differing  widely  in  opin 
ions  on  other  subjects,  but  going  to  Faneuil  Hall  in  the  spirit 
of  self-devotion  worthy  of  the  cause  that  brought  them  to 
gether.  John  M.  Williams,  an  aged  and  venerable  jurist,  pre 
sided.  An  address  of  great  vigor  and  force,  portions  of  which 
were  dictated  by  Mr.  Webster,  was  prepared  by  Charles  Allen 
of  Worcester,  and  Stephen  C.  Phillips  of  Salem.  It  was 
unanimously  adopted  by  the  convention  and  widely  circulated. 

Referring  to  the  grave  issues  involved  in  annexation,  to  a 
war  that,  it  seemed,  must  inevitably  follow  the  adoption  of  the 
Joint  Resolution,  which  had  already  passed  the  House,  it  ex 
pressed  the  hope  that  the  day  might  "  never  dawn  which  shall 
behold  the  glorious  flag  of  this  Union  borne  on  foreign  battle 
fields  to  sustain  in  the  name  of  liberty  the  supremacy  of  its 
eternal  foe."  It  affirmed  that  "  Massachusetts  denounces  the 
iniquitous  project  in  its  inception  and  in  every  stage  of  its  pro 
gress,  its  means  and  its  end,  and  all  the  purposes  and  pre 
tences  of  its  authors." 

An  anti-Texas  committee  was  appointed,  for  the  purpose  of 
making  an  earnest,  and,  if  possible,  successful  effort  to  com 
bine  and  make  effective  the  public  sentiment  of  the  free  States 
against  the  consummation  of  a  scheme  known  to  be  wicked  in 
its  purpose,  corrupt  in  its  means,  dishonorable  in  its  character, 
and  believed  to  be  disastrous  in  its  consequences. 

The  discussions  were  marked  by  great  freedom,  earnestness, 
solemnity,  and  determination.  Thoughtful  men  filled  the  hall. 
Speakers  and  hearers  partook  of  a  common  sentiment.  They 
realized  as  never  before  the  imminence  of  the  impending  ca 
lamity,  the  gravity  of  the  occasion,  and  the  pregnant  issues  of 
the  hour.  But  these  speeches,  eloquent  and  graphic  as  they 
were,  rather  increased  than  diminished  the  feeling  of  public 
danger  and  impotency  which  pervaded  that  assembly,  so  that, 
when  the  illusive  battle-cry  of  "  repeal  "  was  raised  by  Linus 
Child,  a  sense  of  relief  ran  through  the  hall,  and  a  gleam  of 
light  seemed  to  illumine  the  darkness  of  the  immediate  future. 


624       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

While  the  struggle  for  the  annexation  of  Texas  by  Joint 
Resolution  was  in  progress,  the  friends  of  that  measure  left  no 
means  untried  which  political  chicanery  or  menace  could  sug 
gest.  The  President  elect  made  no  concealment  of  his  pur 
pose  ;  and  it  was  distinctly  understood  that  those  Democrats 
who  opposed  the  measure  had  little  to  expect  from  his  admin 
istration.  Even  those  in  New  York  who  had  signed  the  secret 
circular  which  alone  made  Mr.  Folk's  election  possible  were 
soon  made  to  feel  the  force  of  that  displeasure  which  the  Slave 
Power  usually  inflicted  on  those  who  resisted  its  authority. 

But  its  immediate  and  most  marked  demonstration  was  in 
New  Hampshire,  and  John  P.  Hale  was  its  first  victim. 
Though  at  first  successful,  its  ultimate  results  were  disas 
trous  to  the  cause  and  party  which  prompted  it.  For  it  placed 
Mr.  Hale  in  a  far  more  commanding  position  than  he  had  ever 
occupied  before,  and  gave  his  ready  tongue  a  voice  and  an 
audience  it  could  never  otherwise  have  obtained,  besides  afford 
ing  an  example  of  successful  resistance  to  partisan  tyranny  and 
slaveholding  dictation  greatly  damaging  to  their  pretentious 
and  hitherto  unquestioned  supremacy. 

Mr.  Hale,  then  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
had  been  nominated  by  the  Democratic  party  for  re-election. 
But  he  had  not,  like  the  great  body  of  that  party,  forgotten  its 
strong  anti-Texas  testimonies  ;  nor  would  he,  at  the  bidding 
of  the  convention  which  overslaughed  Mr.  Van  Buren  and 
nominated  Mr.  Polk,  or  in  the  hope  of  the  prospective  patron 
age  of  the  incoming  administration,  disown  that  record,  and 
applaud  what  a  few  short  weeks  before  had  been  so  vociferously 
condemned. 

Compelled  to  define  his  position,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  re 
affirm  his  opposition  to  the  scheme,  and  to  vote  against  it, 
though  he  regarded  that  declaration  and  vote  as  his  political 
death-warrant ;  a  martyrdom  from  which  he  evidently  expected 
no  resurrection.  Indeed,  he  at  once  made  his  arrangements 
to  retire  from  public  life,  and  to  resume  his  profession  in  the 
city  of  New  York ;  a  purpose  from  which  he  was  with  some 
difficulty  dissuaded. 

"What  he  apprehended  soon  transpired.     Such  honesty  of 


JOHN   P.   HALE.  625 

purpose,  such  fealty  to  right,  such  contumacy  to  party  disci 
pline  could  not  be  tolerated  in  the  ranks  of  the  exacting  De 
mocracy  of  that  State.  Early  in  January  Mr.  Hale  addressed  to 
his  constituents  a  letter  on  the  annexation  of  Texas.  It  was 
an  earnest  and  unequivocal  condemnation  of  the  scheme.  The 
reasons  given  by  its  advocates  in  support  of  the  measure  he 
declared  to  be  "  eminently  calculated  to  provoke  the  scorn  of 
.earth  and  the  judgment  of  Heaven  "  ;  and  he  avowed  that  he 
could  never  consent,  by  any  agency  of  his,  to  place  the  coun 
try  in  the  attitude  of  annexing  a  foreign  nation  for  the  avowed 
purpose  of  sustaining  and  perpetuating  slavery. 

At  once  the  leading  Democratic  presses  of  New  Hampshire 
and  of  the  country  opened  upon  him  a  war  of  denunciation, 
calling  upon  his  constituents  to  rebuke  and  silence  him.  The 
Democratic  State  Committee  immediately  issued  a  call  for  a 
convention  at  Concord  on  the  12th  of  February.  Franklin 
Pierce,  who  had  been  distinguished  in  Congress  for  his  fidelity 
to  the  Slave  Power,  addressed  the  meeting,  sharply  and  bitterly 
criticising  this  independent  action  of  Mr.  Hale,  and  defending 
the  policy  of  annexation.  He  admitted  that  he  would  rather 
have  Texas  annexed  as  free  territory,  but  he  exclaimed, 
"  Give  it  to  us  with  slavery,  rather  than  not  have  it,  and  have 
it  now."  And  such  an  avowal  was  consistently  applauded  by 
the  same  convention  which  had  just  voted  down,  by  "  an  em 
phatic  No,"  the  proposition  that  the  meeting  should  be  opened 
with  prayer. 

Stephen  S.  Foster,  being  present,  inquired  if  he  might  be 
permitted  "  to  set  the  speaker  right  in  a  few  of  his  misstate- 
ments."  A  violent  clamor  at  once  arose  against  permission. 
The  chairman  decided  that  none  but  delegates  could  speak ; 
and  Mr.  Foster  took  his  seat,  with  the  declaration :  "  I  con 
sider  myself,  in  common  with  every  man  in  the  house,  in 
sulted  by  the  remarks  of  the  gentleman  who  has  just  taken 
his  seat."  And  that  convention  of  the  same  party  which 
had  a  few  months  before  pronounced  against  the  annexation 
scheme,  and  whose  chief  organ  had  declared  it  to  be  "  black 
as  ink  and  bitter  as  hell,"  at  once  changed  front  on  this  very 
issue,  and  by  a  unanimous  vote  struck  Mr.  Hale's  name  from 

79 


626       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE  SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

the  ticket  on  which  it  had  so  recently  inscribed  it,  and  placed 
in  its  stead  that  of  an  obscure  politician. 

But  many  of  Mr.  Bale's  constituents  were  more  hopeful  than 
their  leader;  at  least,  they  were  less  resigned  and  less  disposed 
to  submit  to  defeat  and  death.  Under  the  lead  of  Amos  Tuck, 
who  had  already  taken  an  active  part  in  giving  expression  and 
direction  to  the  popular  disfavor  against  such  high-handed 
tyranny,  they  at  once  prepared  for  action.  In  consequence  of 
their  earnest  and  vigorous  proceedings,  even  without  much  aid 
from  Mr.  Hale,  who  deemed  all  resistance  to  the  decrees  of 
the  party  hopeless,  the  Democratic  candidate  lacked  a  thou 
sand  votes  of  a  majority.  While  this  result  surprised  and 
exasperated  the  Democratic  leaders,  it  greatly  encouraged  Mr. 
Hale  and  his  friends.  Stimulated  by  their  success,  and  con 
tinuing  the  struggle  with  increased  determination  and  vigor, 
they  established  at  the  State  capital  the  "  Independent  Dem 
ocrat,"  under  the  editorial  control  of  George  G.  Fogg.  It 
was  conducted  with  signal  ability  and  tact,  rendered  essential 
service,  and  contributed  largely  to  the  triumph  of  this  first 
successful  revolt  against  the  iron  despotism  of  the  Slave 
Power. 

In  the  next  election  Mr.  Hale  participated.  He  canvassed 
the  State,  delivering  speeches,  in  which  he  brought  into  full 
play  the  capacities  and  characteristics  of  his  peculiar,  versatile, 
and  popular  eloquence.  Great  excitement  pervaded  the  State, 
and  crowds  thronged  to  hear  him.  But  the  Democratic  lead 
ers  were  indignant  at  his  continued  contumacy,  and  deeply 
chagrined  at  his  manifest  success  with  the  people.  These  feel 
ings  found  voice  at  a  meeting  held  at  the  capital  the  first  week 
of  June.  During  that  week  the  legislature  commenced  its 
session,  and  the  religious  and  benevolent  associations  of  the 
State  held  their  anniversaries.  Mr.  Hale  was  expected  to 
address  a  meeting  at  the  Old  North  Church.  Unwilling  that 
his  speech  should  be  heard,  as  it  probably  would  be,  by  the 
political  and  religious  representatives  of  the  State  then  assem 
bled,  the  Democratic  leaders  determined  that  it  should  be 
replied  to  on  the  spot.  Franklin  Pierce  was  selected  for  that 
purpose.  Aware  that  he  was  addressing  many  men  of  large 


JOHN  P.   HALE.  627 

intelligence  and  influence,  and  that  his  words  would  be  sharply 
criticised  by  him  under  whose  lead  his  name  had  been  stricken 
from  the  ticket,  Mr.  Hale  spoke  with  calmness,  dignity,  and 
effect.  Those  who  listened  to  him  could  not  but  feel,  whether 
they  agreed  with  him  or  not,  that  he  had  been  actuated  by 
conscientious  convictions  and  a  high  sense  of  public  duty. 

Mr.  Pierce  had  noted,  with  the  quick  instincts  of  an  adroit 
politician,  the  marked  effects  produced  by  Mr.  Hale's  manly 
and  temperate  vindication  of  his  principles  and  position. 
Evidently  in  a  towering  passion,  he  spoke  under  the  deepest 
excitement.  He  was  domineering  and  insulting  in  manner, 
and  bitter  and  sarcastic  in  the  tone  and  tenor  of  his  remarks. 
Mr.  Hale  replied  briefly,  but  pertinently  and  effectively.  He 
closed  his  triumphant  vindication  of  his  motives,  opinions, 
and  purposes  against  the  aspersions  of  his  bitter  enemy  with 
these  words  :  "  I  expected  to  be  called  ambitious,  to  have  my 
name  cast  out  as  evil,  to  be  traduced  and  misrepresented.  I 
have  not  been  disappointed.-  But  if  things  have  come  to  this 
condition,  that  conscience  and  a  sacred  regard  for  truth  and 
duty  are  to  be  publicly  held  up  to  ridicule,  and  scouted  at 
without  rebuke,  as  has  just  been  done  here,  it  matters  little 
whether  we  are  annexed  to  Texas  or  Texas  is  annexed  to  us. 
I  may  be  permitted  to  say  that  the  measure  of  my  ambition 
will  be  full  if  my  earthly  career  shall  be  finished  and  my  bones 
are  laid  beneath  the  soil  of  New  Hampshire,  and,  when  my 
wife  and  children  shall  repair  to  my  grave  to  drop  the  tear  of 
affection  to  my  memory,  they  may  read  on  my  tombstone  : 
4  He  who  lies  beneath  surrendered  office  and  place  and  power, 
rather  than  bow  down  and  worship  slavery.' ' 

At  the  second  election  the  Democratic  candidate  lacked  some 
fifteen  hundred  votes  necessary  to  an  election.  Several  other 
attempts  were  made,  in  which  the  "  Independent  Democrats," 
though  they  failed  of  electing  their  own,  succeeded  in  defeat 
ing  the  Democratic  candidate,  and  in  holding  the  balance  of 
power.  In  the  election  of  1846,  Mr.  Hale  was  chosen  a  mem 
ber  of  the  legislature,  was  made  Speaker,  and  subsequently 
elected  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  The  State  was 
then  subdivided  into  congressional  districts,  and  Mr.  Tuck  was 


628        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

nominated  to  fill  the  seat  Mr.  Hale  had  occupied  in  the  na 
tional  House  of  Representatives.  As  a  majority  of  votes  was 
necessary  for  an  election,  no  choice  was  effected  during  the 
whole  of  the  XXIXth  Congress.  But  in  July,  1847,  by  a 
coalition  between  the  Whigs  and  "  Independent  Democrats  " 
in  the  first  and  third  districts,  Mr.  Tuck  was  chosen  in  the 
former  and  General  James  Wilson  in  the  latter.  Mr.  Tuck 
served  six  years  in  Congress,  and  made  an  honorable  record. 
His  chief  distinction,  and  perhaps  his  chief  service,  however, 
grew  out  of  his  bold  and  wise  leadership  in  that  first  and  suc 
cessful  assault  upon  the  party  which  had  for  years  controlled 
the  State  with  iron  sway  ;  beating  down  the  very  Gibraltar  of 
the  Northern  Democracy,  and  making  it  one  of  the  leading 
and  most  reliable  States  in  opposition  to  the  Slave  Power. 

And  if  merit  is  due  to  any  actors  in  the  great  struggle  now 
under  review,  surely  no  inconsiderable  share  belongs  to  those 
who,  in  that  dark  night,  dared  to  beard  the  lion,  in  his  Northern 
lair,  and  strike  for  freedom  with  the  odds  so  fearfully  against 
them.  Nor  is  the  nation's  debt  of  gratitude  to  Mr.  Hale  small 
for  his  long,  brave  fight  in  the  Senate,  against  the  scorn  and 
contumely  of  the  slaveholding  majority.  For  if  he  did  not 
then  proclaim  the  full  and  perfect  evangel  of  liberty,  his 
was  certainly  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness,  pre 
paring  the  way  of  complete  deliverance.  As  his  successful 
resistance  to  party  and  slaveholding  tyranny  broke  the  spell 
of  its  assumed  invincibility,  and  encouraged  others  to  go  and 
do  likewise,  so  his  ready  eloquence  and  wit,  his  brilliant  rep 
artee  and  unfailing  good-humor,  did  much  to  familiarize  the 
country  with  the  subject,  and  to  call  attention  to  its  facts  and 
principles,  which  perhaps  a  sterner  advocate  would  have  failed 
to  effect. 

While  Mr.  Hale  was  making  his  gallant  and  successful  fight 
in  New  Hampshire,  by  which  he  placed  himself  at  once  among 
the  foremost  advocates  of  liberty,  freedom  found  another  cham 
pion,  on  the  very  soil  of  slavery  itself,  in  the  person  of  Cassius 
M.  Clay.  Belonging  to  an  eminent  family,  reared  under  the 
influences  of  slavery,  he  was  identified  with  it  by  birth,  inheri 
tance,  and  position.  From  personal  knowledge  and  his  affilia- 


CASSIUS  M.    CLAY.  629 

tions  of  family,  party,  and  business,  he  had  spoken  during  the 
presidential  canvass  of  1844  with  authority  upon  the  subject 
of  slavery,  revealing  to  thousands  the  inner  life  and  workings 
of  the  system. 

Mr.  Clay  was  a  native  of  Kentucky.  Educated  at  Yale,  he> 
had  soon  learned  to  recognize  the  difference  between  the  slave 
and  the  free  States,  while  the  antislavery  discussions  that  were 
rife  during  his  stay  in  New  England  greatly  excited  his  feel 
ings  and  changed  his  sentiments  ;  and  at  an  early  day  he 
determined  to  emancipate  his  slaves.  Entering  the  Kentucky 
legislature  in  1835,  he  at  once  introduced  and  became  the 
champion  of  a  common-school  system  for  his  native  State. 
But  he  soon  learned  that  such  a  system  was  incompatible  with 
the  presence  and  power  of  slavery  wherever  the  latter  was 
established,  and  was  giving  tone  to  the  thought  and  feeling 
of  society. 

In  1841  an  act  was  introduced  into  that  legislature  for  the> 
repeal  of  a  law  adopted  in  1833  to  prevent  the  importation 
of  slaves  into  the  State.  He,  of  course,  arrayed  himself  against 
the  repeal,  and  denounced  in  fitting  language  this  reactionary 
measure.  Such  a  demonstration  from  one  occupying  his  posi 
tion  naturally  excited  surprise,  and  provoked  that  kind  and  style 
of  opposition  in  which  the  slave-masters  were  accustomed  to 
indulge  toward  any  who  opposed  their  policy  or  condemned 
their  cherished  system.  But  he  declared  that  denunciation 
could  not  silence  him ;  that  epithets  and  the  cry  of  abolition 
had  no  terrors  for  him ;  and  that  bowie-knives,  pistols,  and 
mobs  could  not  force  him  to  desist.  He  said  that  his  blood 
was  ready  for  the  sacrifice,  though  he  warned  gentlemen  that 
he  should  not  be  "  a  tame  victim  of  either  force  or  denuncia 
tion."  He  affirmed  that  there  was  a  party  in  the  country  which 
was  the  advocate  of  perpetual  slavery,  and  in  favor  of  destroy 
ing  the  Union.  He  protested  against  what  he  termed  the  trea 
sonable  scheme  of  the  disunionists ;  and  he  asserted  that  on 
the  day  when  this  should  be  seriously  attempted  or  consum 
mated  there  should  be  "  one  Kentuckian  shrouded  under  the 
stars  and  stripes ;  one  heart  undesecrated  with  the  faith  that 
slavery  is  the  basis  of  civil  liberty  ;  one  being  who  could  not 


630       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

exist  in  a  government  denying  the  right  of  petition,  the  liberty 
of  speech  and  of  the  press  ;  one  man  who  would  not  be  the 
outlaw  of  nations  or  the  slave  of  a  slave. " 

Entertaining  such  sentiments,  and  believing  that  the  pro 
posed  annexation  of  Texas  was  for  "  the  extension  of  slavery 
among  men,"  he  interposed  a  most  determined  opposition.  In 
a  speech  in  December,  1843,  in  reply  to  ex- Vice-President 
Richard  M.  Johnson,  he  made  an  impassioned  appeal  to  the 
people  of  Kentucky  to  enter  their  solemn  protest  against  this 
most  unholy  scheme.  He  reminded  them,  if  this  project  was 
carried  out  for  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  formed,  they  could 
no  longer  cover  themselves,  when  reproached  for  the  existence 
of  slavery,  under  the  plea  that  it  was  an  entailed  evil  for  which 
they  could  not  be  held  responsible.  If  they  supported  this 
scheme,  with  this  the  real  and  avowed  object,  they  would  com 
mit  themselves  anew  to  the  system  it  was  thus  proposed  to 
strengthen  and  extend. 

Holding  these  ideas  of  annexation,  and  deeply  impressed 
with  the  magnitude  of  the  interests  at  stake  and  the  gravity 
of  the  impending  peril,  he  entered  with  great  earnestness 
into  the  presidential  contest  of  1844.  He  traversed  the  free 
States,  urging  the  claims  of  Henry  Clay.  He  was  specially 
urgent  that  antislavery  men  should  give  him  their  votes, 
as  the  only  way  by  which  annexation  could  be  prevented. 
Affirming  that  Mr.  Clay  had  virtually  pledged  himself  to  op 
pose  the  admission  of  Texas,  by  making  the  conditions  of  his 
support  such  as  could  not  be  fulfilled,  he  contended  that  they 
themselves  held  the  power  in  their  hands  to  prevent  it.  Among 
those  conditions  was  the  "  common  consent  of  the  Union." 
"  So  long,  then,"  he  said,  in  one  of  his  speeches,  "  as  the  vestal 
flame  of  liberty  shall  burn  in  your  bosoms,  eternal  and  inextin 
guishable,  so  long  is  Mr.  Clay,  three  several  times,  in  the  most 
solemn  manner,  before  the  nation  and  all  mankind,  irrevoca 
bly  bound  to  oppose  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United 
States."  "  Of  all  men,"  he  continued,  "  now  present  I  have 
the  greatest  cause  to  take  care  that  I  am  not  deceived  in  this 
matter ;  but  I  can  go  —  I  say  it  before  God  and  man  —  with  a 
good  conscience  for  him,  because  I  believe  it  will  save  my 


CASSIUS   M.   CLAY.  631 

country  from  ruin  if  we  shall  secure  his  election."  His  labors 
in  the  canvass  were  arduous,  his  feelings  were  deeply  enlisted 
in  the  issues  at  stake,  and  his  consequent  disappointment  in 
view  of  defeat  was  very  great. 

The  defeat  of  Mr.  Clay,  however,  while  it  made  annexation 
certain,  did  not  discourage  him.  His  spirit  rose  with  the  oc 
casion,  and  his  purpose  to  war  against  the  cause  of  all  this 
scheming  and  plotting  seemed  to  be  strengthened.  Returning 
to  Kentucky,  he  issued,  in  January,  1845,  an  address  to  the 
people  of  his  State,  in  which  he  portrayed  the  baleful  effects 
of  slavery,  even  upon  that  "  young  and  beautiful  Common 
wealth,"  to  whose  "  Italian  skies  "  and  "  more  than  Sicilian 
verdure"  he  mournfully  referred  as  being  blighted  and  clouded 
by  this  terrible  curse.  "  Her  fields,"  he  says,  "  relapse  into 
primitive  sterility  ;  her  population  wastes  away,  manufactures 
recede  from  her  infected  border,  trade  languishes,  decay 
trenches  upon  her  meagre  accumulations  of  taste  or  utility, 
gaunt  famine  stalks  into  the  portals  of  the  homestead,  sullen 
despair  begins  to  display  itself  in  the  careworn  faces  of  men, 
the  heavens  and  the  earth  cry  aloud,  the  eternal  laws  of  happi 
ness  and  existence  have  been  trampled  underfoot Agri 
culture  drags  along  its  slow  pace  with  slovenly,  ignorant,  and 
reckless  labor.  Science,  literature,  and  art  are  strangers  here. 
Poets,  historians,  artists,  and  machinists ;  the  lovers  of  the 
ideal,  the  great,  the  beautiful,  the  true,  and  the  useful, —  flour 
ish  where  thought  and  action  are  untrammelled A  loose 

and  inadequate  respect  for  the  rights  of  property,  of  neces 
sity,  follows  in  the  wake  of  slavery.  Duelling,  bloodshed,  and 
lynch-law  leave  but  little  security  to  person.  A  general  de 
moralization  has  corrupted  the  first  minds  in  the  nation,  its 
hot  contagion  has  spread  among  the  whole  people ;  licentious 
ness,  crime,  and  bitter  hate  infest  us  at  home  ;  repudiation  and 
the  forcible  propagandism  of  slavery  is  arraying  against  us  the 
world  in  arms." 

He  urged  upon  them  to  choose  delegates  to  a  convention  for 
amending  the  Constitution,  and  to  repeat  the  attempt  "  until 
victory  shall  perch  on  the  standard  of  the  free." 

While  the  struggle  was  in  progress  in  both  Congress  and 


632        RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE    SLAVE   POWER   LN   AMERICA. 

the  country  for  the  expansion  of  slavery,  he  issued  proposals 
for  the  establishment  of  a  paper  to  advocate  its  "  overthrow  " 
in  Kentucky.  Its  publication  was  commenced  at  Lexington, 
and  on  the  3d  of  June  was  issued  the  first  number  of  the 
"  True  American."  In  it  he  discussed  with  great  vigor  the 
evils  and  remedies  existing  and  proposed.  The  general  tone 
and  character  of  its  utterances  were  very  offensive  to  the 
slaveholders  of  the  State,  whose  course  he  condemned,  and 
whose  interests,  they  felt,  he  was  putting  in  peril.  This 
indignation  was  specially  increased  and  intensified  by  articles 
that  appeared  on  the  12th  of  August,  in  which  the  writer 
referred  not  only  to  the  general  principles  of  the  contest,  but 
to  certain  contingencies  and  possibilities,  and  which  very 
naturally  and  very  greatly  excited  their  ire. 

In  those  articles  not  only  was  emancipation  advocated,  but 
the  securing  of  the  civil  and  political  rights  to  the  colored  peo 
ple  was  vindicated.  The  pride  and  selfishness  of  the  slave- 
master,  too,  was  referred  to  ;  and  the  charge  was  made  that, 
in  his  esteem,  national  character,  conscience  of  the  people, 
and  sense  of  duty  weighed  nothing  against  that  pride  and  self 
ishness.  The  warning,  too,  was  given  that  the  Abolitionists 
were  becoming  quite  as  reckless  as  the  slaveholders  them 
selves  ;  and,  when  provoked  by  injustice  and  wrong,  they  might 
manifest  something  of  the  same  spirit.  "  It  is  in  vain,"  it  was 
said,  "  for  the  master  to  try  to  fence  his  dear  slaves  in  from  all 
intercourse  with  the  great  world,  to  create  his  little  petty  and 
tyrannical  kingdom  on  his  own  plantation,  and  keep  it  for  his 
exclusive  reign.  He  cannot  shut  out  the  light  of  information 
any  more  than  the  light  of  heaven.  It  will  penetrate  all 
disguises,  and  shine  upon  the  dark  night  of  slavery.  He  must 
recollect  that  he  is  surrounded.  The  North,  the  East,  the 
West,  and  the  South  border  on  him,  —  the  free  West-Indian, 
the  free  Mexican,  the  free  Yankee,  the  more  than  free  Abo 
litionists  of  his  own  country.  Everything  trenches  upon  his 
infected  district,  and  the  wolf  looks  calmly  in  upon  his  fold." 

The  slaveholders  were  greatly  exasperated,  too,  by  these 
words  :  "  But  we  are  told  the  enunciation  of  the  soul-stirring 
principles  of  Kevolutionary  patriots  is  a  lie  ;  that  slavery  the 


CASSIUS  M.   CLAY.  633 

most  unmitigated,  the  lowest,  basest  that  the  world  has  seen, 
is  to  be  substituted  forever  for  our  better,  more  glorious,  holier 
aspirations.  The  Constitution  is  torn, and  trampled  underfoot, 
justice  and  good  faith  in  a  nation  are  divided,  brute  force  is 
substituted  in  the  place  of  high  moral  tone,  all  the  great  prin 
ciples  of  national  liberty  which  we  inherited  from  our  British 
ancestry  are  yielded  up,  and  we  are  left  without  God  or  help 
in  the  world.  When  the  great-hearted  of  our  land  weep,  and 
the  man  of  reflection  maddens  in  the  contemplation  of  our 
national  apostasy,  there  are  men,  pursuing  gain  and  pleasure, 
who  smile  with  contempt  and  indifference  at  their  appeals. 
But  remember,  you  who  dwell  in  marble  palaces,  that  there 
are  strong  arms  and  fiery  hearts  and  iron  pikes  in  the  streets, 
and  panes  of  glass  only  between  them  and  the  silver  plate  on 
the  board  and  the  smooth-skinned  woman  on  the  ottoman. 
When  you  have  mocked  at  virtue,  denied  the  agency  of  God 
in  the  affairs  of  men,  and  made  rapine  your  honeyed  faith, 
tremble,  for  the  day  of  retribution  is  at  hand,  and  the  masses 
will  be  avenged." 

The  establishment  of  such  a  paper  by  such  a  man,  with 
views  so  radical  and  a  purpose  so  determined,  was  naturally 
regarded  by  the  slaveholders  as  a  challenge  to  them  to  come 
to  the  defence  of  their  cherished  and  menaced  system.  It 
was,  therefore,  doomed  from  the  start.  Probably  no  journal, 
however  mildly  and  courteously  conducted,  that  contemplated 
and  advocated  emancipation,  would  have  remained  unmo 
lested.  Certainly  one  with  sentiments  so  decided  and  un 
compromising  might  naturally  expect  resistance.  It  came  in 
the  form  of  a  committee,  which  waited  upon  him  on  the  14th 
of  August,  while  confined  to  a  bed  of  sickness,  requiring 
him  to  suspend  the  publication  of  his  paper,  "  as,"  they  say 
in  their  note,  "  its  further  continuance,  in  our  judgment,  is 
dangerous  to  the  peace  of  the  community,  and  to  the  safety 
of  our  homes  and  families." 

His  reply  was  very  decided  and  defiant.  Alluding  to  the 
phrase  in  their  letter  that  they  had  "  been  appointed  as  a  com 
mittee  on  the  part  of  a  number  of  the  respectable  citizens  of 
the  city  of  Lexington,"  he  wrote  :  "  I  say,  in  reply  to  your 


634       RISE   AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

assertion  that  you  are  a  committee  appointed  by  a '  respect 
able  '  portion  of  the  community,  that  it  cannot  be  true.  Trai 
tors  to  the  laws  and  Constitution  cannot  be  deemed  respectable 
by  any  but  assassins,  pirates,  and  highway  robbers."  After 
reminding  them  that  their  meeting  was  unknown  to  the  laws 
and  Constitution,  and  that  its  "  proceedings  "  were  secret,  and 
its  purposes  were  "  in  direct  violation  of  every  known  princi 
ple  of  honor,  religion,  or  government,"  he  added  :  "  I  treat 
them  with  the  burning  contempt  of  a  brave  heart  and  a  loyal 

citizen.  I  deny  their  power  and  defy  their  action Your 

advice  with  regard  to  my  personal  safety  is  worthy  of  the 
source  whence  it  emanated,  and  meets  with  the  same  contempt 
from  me  which  the  purposes  of  your  mission  excite.  Go,  tell 
your  secret  conclave  of  cowardly  assassins  that  Cassius  M. 
Clay  knows  his  rights,  and  how  to  defend  them." 

He  then  issued  an  appeal  to  the  people  of  Kentucky  to  stand 
by  him  in  his  conflict  with  the  enemies  of  law  in  the  defence 
of  the  civil  and  political  rights  of  all.  On  the  18th  of  August 
a  meeting  was  called  to  consider  the  question  of  suppressing 
the  "  True  American."  To  this  meeting  he  sent  a  communi 
cation,  in  which  he  endeavored  to  remove  some  false  construc 
tions  which  had  been  placed  upon  the  articles  in  question, 
and  in  which  he  made  some  further  statements  concerning  the 
purposes  and  plans  of  his  paper,  concluding  with  the  solemn 
and  unequivocal  averment  that  his  constitutional  rights  he 
should  never  "  abandon." 

The  meeting,  unmoved  by  his  appeal,  proceeded  to  the  con 
summation  of  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  convened,  by  choos 
ing  a  committee  of  sixty,  which  proceeded  to  the  office  of  the 
offending  journal,  boxed  up  its  press,  and  sent  it  out  of  the 
State.  It  also  unanimously  adopted  an  address  to  the  people 
of  Kentucky,  reported  by  Thomas  F.  Marshall.  In  this  ad 
dress  it  was  charged  that  a  formidable  party  had  arisen  in 
the  North  which  held  that  slavery  was  "  opposed  to  religion, 
morals,  and  law,"  and  that  the  negro  was  entitled  to  his  ^free 
dom.  It  asserted,  too,  that  the  aim  of  this  party  was  the  aboli 
tion  of  slavery  in  America.  It  charged  Mr.  Clay  with  being  in 
full  sympathy  with  this  party  ;  that  he  had  visited  the  North, 


CASSIUS   M.    CLAY.  635 

and,  having  been  "  received  there  in  full  communion  by  the 
abolition  party,  caressed  and  flattered  and  feasted,  hailed  in 
the  stages  of  his  triumphal  progress  by  discharges  of  cannon, 
and  heralded  in  the  papers  devoted  to  the  cause  as  the  bold 
est,  the  most  intrepid,  the  most  devoted  of  its  champions,  he 
returned  to  his  native  State,  the  organ  and  agent  of  an  incen 
diary  sect,  to  force  upon  her  principles  fatal  to  her  domestic 
repose,  at  the  risk  of  his  own  life  and  the  peace  of  the  com 
munity." 

Stigmatizing  an  abolition  paper  in  a  slave  State  as  a  "  nui 
sance  of  the  most  formidable  character,"  a  blazing  brand  in  the 
hands  of  an  incendiary  or  madman,  which  might  scatter  ruin, 
conflagration,  revolution,  crime  unnamable  over  everything 
dear  in  domestic  life,  sacred  in  religion,  or  respectable  in  mod 
esty,  it  denounced  the  "  True  American  "as  an  example  of 
the  worst  type  of  such  papers.  Representing  Abolitionists  as 
traitors  to  the  Constitution,  and  abolition  principles  in  a  slave 
State  as  "  fire  in  a  magazine  of  powder,"  the  address  urged 
these  considerations  as  the  justification  of  its  authors  for  the 
summary  measures  they  adopted. 

Mr.  Clay  also  issued  several  appeals  to  the  people  of  Ken 
tucky,  calling  upon  them  to  vindicate  their  rights,  stricken 
down  in  his  person.  But  though  overpowered,  he  exhibited 
the  same  defiant  spirit  and  unconquerable  purpose^  as  he 
dedicated  himself  anew  to  the  liberty  of  his  country  and  of 
mankind,  and  called  upon  Americans  to  "  rise  up  in  the  om- 
nipotency  of  the  ballot,  and  peaceably  overthrow  the  slave 
despotism  of  the  nation." 

He  re-established  his  paper,  which,  though  published  in  Lex 
ington,  was  printed  in  Cincinnati.  But  when  the  war  with 
Mexico  opened,  he,  to  the  great  regret  of  many  and  the  sharp 
censures  of  others,  entered  the  army  ;  and,  under  the  plea  of 
standing  by  the  flag  of  his  country  in  the  day  of  battle,  volun 
teered  his  services  for  that  most  indefensible  war.  After  his 
return  he  renewed  and  continued  his  warfare  on  slavery  until 
it  ceased  to  exist. 


CHAPTER    XLY. 

TEXAS   ADMITTED   AS  A   SLAVE  STATE. 

Resolve  of  Antislavery  Men  to  continue  the  Struggle.  —  Action  of  the  Massa 
chusetts  Legislature.  —  Differences  among  leading  Whigs.  —  Celebration  of  the 
1st  of  August  by  the  Abolitionists.  —  Anti-Texas  Conventions  held  in  Massa 
chusetts.  —  Committee  appointed.  —  Petitions  against  the  Admission  of  Texas 
as  a  Slave  State.  —  Meeting  of  Congress.  —  Presentation  of  Petitions.  —  Reso 
lutions  for  the  Admission  as  a  State.  —  Speech  of  Mr.  Rockwell.  —  Resolutions 
for  Admission.  —  Considered  in  the  Senate.  — Protest  of  Mr.  Webster.  — Texas 
admitted.  —  Address  of  the  Anti-Texas  Committee.  —  Complete  Victory  of  the 
Slave  Power. 

ANTISLAVERY  men  were  humiliated,  but  not  disheartened,  by 
the  success  of  the  annexation  plot.  While  they  comprehended 
in  some  degree  the  fearful  significance  of  that  baleful  triumph, 
and  the  purposes  and  power  of  the  men  who  achieved  it,  they 
felt  constrained  by  an  imperative  sense  of  the  duty  they  owed 
their  country  and  humanity  to  continue  the  struggle.  Two 
days  after  the  Joint  Resolution  had  been  approved  by  the  Presi 
dent,  Charles  Francis  Adams  proposed,  in  the  Senate  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  the  inquiry  whether  any  further  action  should  be 
taken.  A  few  days  afterward  he  reported  from  a  special  com 
mittee  resolutions  declaratory  of  the  position  and  purposes  of 
that  Commonwealth.  They  affirmed  that  Massachusetts  refused 
to  acknowledge  the  act  of  annexation  as  binding  or  legal ;  that 
it  put  at  hazard  the  predominance  of  the  principles  of  liberty. 
When  they  came  up  for  consideration,  a  motion  was  made  by 
Mr.  Clifford  that  they  be  laid  upon  the  table.  But  this  motion 
received  but  five  votes,  and  the  resolutions  were  then  adopted 
by  both  Houses.  It  was  evident,  however,  that  a  portion  of 
the  Whig  party  gave  them  a  reluctant  support. 

On  the  4th   of  March,  Mr.   Wilson   introduced   an   order 
requesting  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  to  report  a  bill 


TEXAS   ADMITTED   AS   A   SLAVE   STATE.  637 

making  it  a  penal  offence  to  surrender  a  slave  escaping  from 
Texas  and  taking  refuge  in  Massachusetts.  Mr.  Lawrence 
of  Hampshire  County  reported  against  the  proposed  legisla 
tion.  The  report  was  sustained  by  himself  and  other  senators, 
on  the  ground  that  no  action  was  required,  that  it  was  a  ques 
tion  to  be  determined  by  the  courts  whenever  a  case  contem 
plated  by  the  order  should  arise. 

Mr.  Wilson  moved  to  recommit  the  report  with  instructions. 
He  would,  he  said,  provide  by  law  that  the  moment  a  man 
held  as  a  slave  in  Texas  stepped  upon  the  soil  of  Massachu 
setts,  his  liberty  should  be  as  sacred  as  his  life.  He  would 
make  it  a  high  crime  to  molest  him,  and  he  would  treat  him  as 
a  felon  who  should  make  the  attempt.  Massachusetts  had  pro 
claimed  that  the  Joint  Resolution  admitting  Texas  should  have 
no  binding  force  upon  her.  Whether  constitutional  or  not, 
Texas  would  instantly  demand  the  guaranties  of  the  Constitu 
tion.  He  would  "  meet  the  issue  at  once,  and  declare  that  the 
sou  of  Massachusetts  should  not  be  the  Texan  slaveholder's 
hunting-ground.  The  panting  fugitive  from  that  region  should 
find  in  Massachusetts  a  city  of  refuge,  and  his  pursuing 
master  a  felon's  cell.  Everything  indicated  an  impending 
struggle  between  freedom  and  slavery  that  would  absorb  the 
mighty  energies  of  the  nation  ;  and  in  that  contest  it  was  fit 
that  Massachusetts  should  lead."  But  the  motion  failed,  and 
the  adverse  report  was  then  accepted. 

When  the  legislature  adjourned  in  the  spring  of  1845,  there 
were  marked  indications  of  a  wide  divergence  touching  slav 
ery  among  the  leading  Whigs  of  the  Commonwealth.  After 
the  defeat  of  Mr.  Clay,  a  portion  of  the  wealthy  and  influential 
members  of  the  party,  especially  those  connected  with  the 
commercial,  manufacturing,  and  monetary  interests  of  the 
State,  positively  refused  to  take  part  in  the  efforts  made  to 
defeat  annexation,  or  to  prevent  the  admission  of  Texas  as  a 
slaveholding  State.  When  the  call  for  the  anti-Texas  meeting 
in  Faneuil  Hall  was  circulated  in  the  legislature  by  Mr.  Wilson, 
ex-Governor  Lincoln,  then  president  of  the  Senate,  and  several 
other  members  of  the  party,  peremptorily  refused  to  affix  their 
names  to  it.  They  said  that  they  had  fought  annexation  so 


638        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA, 

long  as  it  was  an  open  question,  and  they  had  been  defeated 
by  the  Abolitionists  who  withheld  their  votes  from  Mr.  Clay. 
Abbott  Lawrence  and  Nathan  Appleton,  representative  men, 
and  especially  influential  with  the  manufacturing  interest, 
took  no  part  in  that  meeting.  It  was  well  understood,  too, 
that  ex-Governor  Davis,  Mr.  Winthrop,  and  several  other  emi 
nent  Whigs  did  not  concur  in  that  action,  and  manifested 
much  coldness  towards  those  who  did.  On  the  4th  of  July, 
when  the  feelings  of  grief  and  indignation  were  fresh  in  the 
hearts  of  the  people,  and  their  murmurs  still  filled  the  air, 
Mr.  Winthrop  took  occasion,  in  Faneuil  Hall,  to  give  utter 
ance  to  the  sentiment,  "  Our  country,  however  bounded," 
which  was  understood  to  be  the  expression  of  his  acceptance 
of  the  result,  and  a  tacit  rebuke  of  those  of  his  political  asso 
ciates  who  did  not  readily  acquiesce  in  the  same  policy. 

Though  Texas  had  promptly  accepted  the  conditions  of  an 
nexation,  and  her  territory  had  become  an  integral  portion  of 
the  Republic,  she  was  not  actually  a  State  of  the  Union.  The 
free  States  had  a  majority  of  fifty  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives.  Why  should  not  another  stand  be  made  for  freedom  and 
the  country  ?  The  defection  of  so  many  of  their  leaders  in  the 
political  and  commercial  circles,  and  their  readiness  to  acqui 
esce  in  the  great  iniquity,  was  indeed  disheartening  and  omi 
nous.  But  they  were  not  the  majority,  and  it  was  hoped  they 
did  not  represent  it.  It  was  certainly  worth  the  trial  for  the 
chance  of  defeating  a  nefarious  project  even  at  the  last  mo 
ment  and,  at  the  same  time,  for  the  opportunity  of  ascertaining 
whether  the  same  appliances  which  had  debauched  and  sub 
dued  the  government  had  corrupted  and  conquered  the  people. 

Nor  was  there  a  more  fitting  field  in  which  that  trial  could 
be  inaugurated  than  Massachusetts.  Though  the  efforts  were 
crowned  with  no  great  success,  and  few  in  other  States  seemed 
disposed  to  join  in  the  attempt,  there  is  a  mournful  satisfaction 
in  tracing  the  steps  of  those  earnest  men  who  would  bow  to 
nothing  but  the  inevitable,  and  yield  only  when  resistance  was 
manifest  folly.  There  was  something  heroic  in  the  closing 
though  ineffectual  struggles  of  that  great  conflict.  And  if 
readers  are  sometimes  tempted  to  smile  at  their  bold,  defiant, 


TEXAS  ADMITTED  AS  A  SLAVE  STATE.         639 

and  hopeful  words,  with  so  feeble  a  following,  and  a  foe  in 
front  rampant  with  victory,  audacious  in  his  insolence,  with  a 
nation  at  his  beck,  a  little  study  of  the  situation  will  change 
that  feeling  to  sympathy  as  they  consider  how  hopeless  was 
the  task  those  brave  men  were  undertaking,  how  absolutely 
"  forlorn  "  was  the  hope  they  were  attempting  to  lead. 

On  the  1st  of  August,  the  anniversary  of  West  India  eman 
cipation,  several  meetings  were  held  by  the  Abolitionists  of 
Massachusetts.  The  recent  crime  of  the  Slave  Power,  which 
had  insulted  the  reason  and  outraged  the  patriotism  and  con 
science  of  the  antislavery  men  of  the  North,  contributed  not 
only  to  increase  their  numbers  but  greatly  to  deepen  their  in 
terest.  At  the  meeting  in  Dedham  Mr.  Garrison  presided. 
Pungent,  vigorous,  and  eloquent  speeches  were  made  by  him 
self,  Theodore  Parker,  and  Edmund  Quincy. 

A  large  meeting  was  held  at  Leicester,  which  was  addressed 
by  Samuel  May,  Jr.  In  a  speech  full  of  faith  and  hope  in  the 
ultimate  triumph  of  the  cause  of  emancipation,  although  the 
omens  in  that  hour  of  defeat  were  far  from  auspicious,  he  said 
that  they  had  come  together  to  acquire  new  courage  and  zeal 
in  their  warfare.  He  would  have  their  faith  increased  in 
moral  power  and  in  the  living  truth  of  Christ,  and  he  would 
send  "  forth  words  of  instruction,  exhortation,  and  rebuke, 
until  Slavery  utters  her  last  groan,  and  expires,  never  to 
know  a  resurrection." 

Wendell  Phillips,  in  reply  to  the  oft-repeated  assertion  that 
the  church  was  right  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  and  that  slavery 
was  but  "  one  case,"  referred  to  the  fact  that  one  sixth  of  the 
population  of  the  country  was  now  held  as  property,  subject 
to  the  crudest  treatment  and  to  the  grossest  outrages,  and  all 
unprotected  by  law  or  by  public  opinion.  In  such  a  condition 
of  affairs  he  maintained  that  the  church  either  remained  silent, 
or,  if  it  spoke  at  all,  it  denounced  the  friends  of  the  slave  as 
infidels.  "  I  will  not,"  he  said,  "  have  for  mine  the  Christian 
ity  of  this  land,  with  its  negro  pew  in  the  corner  of  every  church, 
and  its  negro  hate  in  the  corner  of  every  heart.  And  yet  I  am 
a  Christian.  I  hang  all  my  hopes  on  the  faith  of  my  fathers ; 
and  I  should  feel  myself  forever  disgraced  if  I  failed  to  rebuke 


640       RISE  AND   FALL   OF  THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

the  moral  dwarfs  which  have  now  come  into  our  fathers' 
places." 

On  that  day  a  large  assemblage  gathered  at  Waltham. 
Francis  Jackson,  president  of  the  Massachusetts  Antislavery 
Society,  presided.  The  meeting  was  addressed  by  Jonathan 
Walker,  who  had  been  fined,  imprisoned,  and  branded  in  the 
right  hand  for  assisting  slaves  to  escape  in  Florida.  But  in 
spite  of  all  the  barbarities  which  he  had  borne,  he  avowed  that 
as  long  as  life  remained  that  "branded  hand"  should  be  raised 
against  slavery.  In  response  to  the  question,  often  asked,  why 
Captain  Walker  broke  the  laws  of  Florida,  John  Weiss,  then 
the  Unitarian  clergyman  of  Watertown,  said  that  man  was 
more  than  constitutions,  and  Christ  was  greater  than  Hancock 
or  Adams.  "  Our  Northern  apathy,"  he  truly  said,  "  heated 
the  iron,  forged  the  manacles,  and  built  the  pillory."  William 
Henry  Channing,  in  a  speech  of  graceful  eloquence  and  beauty, 
said  that  the  republic  was  the  child  of  promise,  but  slavery  was 
denationalizing  the  people,  and  that  it  proclaimed  itself  auto 
crat  and  dictator.  The  Constitution,  he  said,  had  been  tried 
and  found  to  be  an  instrument  of  slaveholding  usurpation,  and 
the  annexation  of  Texas  absolved  the  people  from  its  support. 

Rev.  Caleb  Stetson  agreed  with  Mr.  Channing  that  the 
bond  of  union  had  been  broken,  but  the  government  of  Massa 
chusetts  was  under  the  rule  of  the  cotton  aristocracy,  and  if 
"  the  fiery  cross  was  raised  the  people  would  prove  recreant." 
William  I.  Bowditch,  in  a  thoughtful  and  temperate  speech, 
urged  the  friends  of  the  slave  to  apply  the  great  reformatory 
principle  of  love  to  the  slaveholder.  "  Let  us,"  he  also  said, 
"  fearlessly  and  constantly  extend  the  principle  of  human 
brotherhood  to  the  despised  and  oppressed  slave,  and  let  us 
here  solemnly  pledge  ourselves  to  follow  out  these  great  princi 
ples,  and  resolve,  Constitution  or  no  Constitution,  custom  or 
no  custom,  that  nothing  shall  ever  induce  us  to  acquiesce  in 
or  tolerate  slavery." 

Mr.  Wilson,  then  a  senator  from  Middlesex  County,  said  that 
the  calamity  and  disgrace  of  annexation  had  come  upon  the 
country  through  the  treachery  of  Northern  men ;  that  even  the 
representative  of  Concord  and  Lexington  had  proved  recreant. 


TEXAS  ADMITTED   AS   A   SLAVE   STATE.  641 

To  the  question  what  should  be  done,  he  said,  "  Act ;  hold 
meetings  in  every  district,  town,  and  county  of  the  State. 
Oppose  the  admission  of  Texas  into  the  Union  as  a  slavehold- 
ing  State,  and  appeal  to  the  people  of  the  free  States  to  arrest 
the  consummation  of  the  great  iniquity.  Say  to  the  men  of 
the  South,  '  You  are  warring  against  civilization,  against 
humanity,  against  the  noblest  feelings  of  the  heart,  the  holiest 
impulses  of  the  human  soul,  and  the  providence  of  God ;  and 
the  conflict  must  ultimately  end  in  your  defeat.' ' 

Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  said  that  it  was  the  office  of  power 
to  protect,  to  help,  to  preserve  ;  and  that  it  was  the  ruin  of 
power  to  oppress  and  injure.  It  was  the  property  of  govern 
ment  to  govern,  of  the  sun  to  shine,  of  moral  power  to 
strengthen,  raise,  and  refine.  The  Persian  poet  has  said, 
"  Beware  of  the  cries  of  the  orphan,  for  his  cries  reach  the 
throne  of  the  Almighty."  The  oppressed  had  the  power  to 
destroy  prosperity  and  overturn  stately  edifices.  Those  who 
hoped  and  trusted  were  ever  proved  right,  and  he  would  have 
Massachusetts  take  the  attitude  of  "  a  sublime  patience,"  and 
trust  "  in  principle,  honor,  and  justice,  rather  than  in  the  com 
binations  of  physical  power."  On  the  motion  of  Mr.  Bowers 
of  Concord,  afterward  a  captain  in  the  civil  war,  a  committee 
was  appointed  to  make  arrangements  for  a  meeting,  to  be  held 
on  the  third  Wednesday  of  August,  to  protest  against  the 
admission  of  Texas  as  a  State.  As  no  action  was  taken  by 
the  committee,  the  meeting  was  not  held. 

Early  in  September,  Mr.  Wilson,  who  had  been  appointed 
one  of  its  members,  prepared  a  call  and  obtained  the  signa 
tures  of  a  large  number  of  gentlemen  of  character  and  in 
fluence  for  a  meeting  to  be  held  at  Concord,  on  the  22d  of 
that  month,  to  "  take  into  consideration  the  encroachments  of 
the  Slave  Power,  and  recommend  such  action  as  justice  and 
patriotism  shall  dictate  to  resist  those  encroachments  and 
arrest  the  progress  of  events  so  rapidly  tending  to  that  fearful 
consummation  when  slavery  shall  have  complete  control  over 
the  policy  of  the  government  and  the  destinies  of  the  country." 
Men  of  all  parties,  sects,  and  pursuits  were  invoked  to  "  de 
vote  one  day  to  the  country  and  the  oppressed."  "  Let  old 

81 


642        RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

age,"  it  said,  "  with  its  garnered  treasures  of  wisdom  and 
experience,  be  there  ;  let  manhood  in  its  maturity  and  vigor 
be  there;  let  youth  with  its  high  hopes  and  aspirations  be 
there,  —  to  devise  such  measures  and  awaken  such  a  spirit  as 
shall  free  the  country  from  the  dominion,  curse,  and  shame 
of  slavery." 

The  convention  was  large,  earnest,  and  united.  Elisha  Hun- 
tington,  mayor  of  Lowell,  and  afterward  lieutenant-governor 
of  the  State,  presided,  and  Mr.  Wilson  reported  a  preamble 
and  a  series  of  resolutions.  The  preamble  set  forth  the  char 
acter  of  slavery  and  the  aggressions  of  the  Slave  Power.  It 
closed  by  "  distinctly  presenting  the  issue  to  the  people  of  the 
free  States  of  an  unconditional  and  pusillanimous  submission, 
or  a  determined  and  constitutional  resistance."  This  paper 
had  been  prepared  by  Samuel  Hunt,  a  Congregational  clergy 
man,  then  a  resident  of  Natick,  who  had  always  in  the  pulpit, 
in  religious  and  political  organizations,  and  at  the  ballot-box, 
acted  for  the  slave  and  against  the  domination  of  his  master. 

The  resolutions  declared :  "  We  solemnly  announce  our 
purpose  to  the  South,  and  to  the  execution  of  that  purpose  we 
pledge  ourselves  to  the  country  and  before  Heaven,  that,  reject 
ing  all  compromise,  without  restraint  or  hesitation,  in  our  pri 
vate  relations  and  in  our  political  organizations,  by  our  voices 
and  our  votes,  in  Congress  or  out,  we  will  use  all  practicable 
means  for  the  extinction  of  slavery  on  the  American  conti 
nent."  The  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted,  and  a  com 
mittee,  of  which  E.  Rockwood  Hoar,  afterward  Attorney-Gen 
eral  of  the  United  States,  was  chairman,  was  appointed  to 
confer  with  the  general  committee  appointed  by  the  anti-Texas 
Convention  held  in  the  preceding  January  in  Faneuil  Hall, 
and  with  other  opponents  of  slavery  and  of  annexation,  to 
endeavor  to  have  meetings  held,  and  in  other  ways  to  organ 
ize  an  efficient  resistance  to  the  final  consummation  of  that 
measure. 

A  letter  waa  received  from  Charles  Francis  Adams,  urging 
unity  and  concert  of  action.  In  the  midst  of  doubts  and  dis 
couragements,  he  said  that  he  had  but  one  single  word  of  hope 
to  present,  and  that  word  was  "  union."  "  Let  the  people," 


TEXAS  ADMITTED   AS   A   SLAVE   STATE.  643 

he  said,  "  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  this  great  land, 
feel  that  without  it  their  industry,  their  property,  nay,  even 
their  lives  and  liberty,  may  in  the  course  of  time  fall  under  the 
oligarchy  of  two  hundred  thousand  owners  of  slaves." 

A  letter  was  also  received  from  John  G.  Whittier.  He  said 
he  was  no  blind  worshipper  of  the  Union,  and  as  an  Abolition 
ist  he  was  shut  out  from  its  benefits.  "  But  I  see  nothing,"  he 
said,  "  to  be  gained  by  an  effort  —  necessarily  limited,  sec 
tional,  and  futile  —  to  dissolve  it.  The  moral  and  political 
power  requisite  for  doing  it  could  far  more  easily  abolish  every 
vestige  of  slavery." 

Conciliatory,  earnest,  and  eloquent  speeches  were  made  by 
William  A.  White,  Stephen  C.  Phillips,  William  Lloyd  Garri 
son,  William  Henry  Channing,  and  other  gentlemen.  An  ad 
journed  meeting  was  held  at  Cambridgeport,  which  was  well 
attended,  and  was  addressed  by  several  gentlemen.  The  con 
vention  then  adjourned  to  meet  in  Lyceum  Hall  in  Cambridge, 
and  took  measures  to  secure  the  attendance  of  the  opponents 
of  annexation  from  other  sections  of  the  State. 

On  the  21st  of  October  the  convention  reassembled.  Henry 
Wilson  presided,  and  Colonel  William  Schouler  acted  as  sec 
retary.  On  taking  the  chair,  Mr.  Wilson  made  a  hopeful  ap 
peal  for  prompt,  bold,  and  united  action.  "  Let  us,"  he  said, 
"  at  once  take  an  advanced  step  against  the  Slave  Power.  Let 
us  act  and,  as  far  as  we  have  the  constitutional  right,  go  in 
favor  of  emancipation.  Let  us  make  it  the  cardinal  doctrine 
of  our  creed,  the  sun  of  our  system.  Let  us  inscribe  eman 
cipation  on  the  banners  under  which  we  rally  in  letters  of  light. 
Let  us  go  to  the  country  on  that  issue.  We  shall  reach  the 
heart  and  conscience  of  the  people.  They  will  come  to  the 
rescue,  and  we  shall  lay  the  foundations  of  an  enduring 
triumph." 

Mr,  Garrison  presented  a  resolution,  asserting  that  it  would 
be  the  constitutional  duty  of  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts 
promptly  to  declare  that,  if  the  illegal  act  of  annexation 
should  be  consummated,  it  was  null  and  void.  Mr.  Stetson 
affirmed  that  he  would  meet  the  issue  of  the  admission  of 
Texas  as  a  slave  State  with  an  "  everlasting  No."  Mr.  Gar- 


644       RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN  AMERICA. 

rison  came  to  the  meeting,  he  said,  to  learn  the  spirit  of  Mid 
dlesex,  and  not  to  give  his  own  plans.  As  a  peace  man  he 
had  no  difficulties.  He  would  submit,  but  he  would  never 
sanction  or  acquiesce. 

William  A.  White  spoke  with  great  earnestness  and  anima 
tion.  "  Let  us  go  on,"  he  said,  "  rallying  the  country  as  we 
go.  Like  those  Spartans  who  passed  the  night  of  their  reso 
lution  to  sacrifice  themselves  for  their  country  in  prayer  and 
song,  and  then  went  forth  in  the  morning  joyfully,  though 
they  knew  it  was  to  die,  let  us  gladly  devote  ourselves  to  the 
salvation  of  our  country." 

Mr.  Adams  said  it  did  not  become  them  to  speak  in  very 
strong  terms,  in  view  of  the  "divided  condition  of  the  Common 
wealth.  "  We  fought  the  battle  last  year,"  he  said,  "and  lost 
it ;  and  I  will  not  say  why  we  lost  it.  But  I  will  say  that  your 
own  situation  is  owing  to  your  own  party  divisions ;  and  I  will 
add  that  unless  you  can  agree  to  act  together,  you  will  always 
be  defeated  in  like  manner.  Look  at  Massachusetts,  divided 
into  I  know  not  how  many  parties,  and  then  look  at  the  South, 
united  in  all  that  concerns  slavery  as  the  heart  of  one." 

Wendell  Phillips  favored  Mr.  Garrison's  resolutions,  though 
Mr.  Adams  had  declared  that  they  could  not  be  made  the  basis 
of  union  and  action.  "  As  long,"  he  said,  "  as  men  lie  in  the  lap 
of  Delilah,  they  may  be  sure  they  will  have  their  locks  shorn. 
What  cares  the  South  for  all  you  can  do  while  under  the 
sceptre  ?  "  He  expressed  a  belief  that  disunion  must  come,  as 
Calhoun  wanted  it  at  one  end  of  the  Union  and  Garrison  wanted 
it  at  the  other.  "  and  it  was  written  in  the  counsels  of  God." 

Resolutions  were  reported  by  the  business  committee  in 
favor  of  instructing  the  committee  appointed  at  Concord,  to 
gether  with  such  members  as  might  be  appointed  at  that  time, 
co  correspond  with  individuals  in  different  parts  of  the  State 
with  a  view  to  calling  county  and  State  conventions.  The 
convention  urged  unity  and  co-operation.  During  a  recess  a 
conference  was  held.  Ellis  Gray  Loring  was  chairman,  and 
Edmund  Quincy  was  secretary.  A  large  State  committee 
was  appointed,  of  which  Charles  Francis  Adams  was  chair 
man.  This  committee  at  once  entered  upon  its  duties,  an 


TEXAS   ADMITTED  AS  A   SLAVE   STATE.  645 

address  to  the  people  was  issued,  a  form  of  remonstrance 
against  the  admission  of  Texas  as  a  slave  State  was  sent  to 
every  part  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  to  other  States.  A 
weekly  paper,  called  the  "  Texas  Chain  Breaker,"  edited  by 
Elizur  Wright,  was  established.  Public  meetings  were  held, 
and  speeches  of  rare  eloquence  and  power  were  delivered  by 
some  of  the  most  gifted  men  of  the  Commonwealth.  Petitions 
signed  by  tens  of  thousands  were  sent  to  this  committee,  and 
Henry  Wilson  and  John  G.  Whittier  were  commissioned  to 
carry  them  to  Washington. 

On  the  4th  of  November  Faneuil  Hall  was  thronged  by  the 
citizens  of  Boston,  to  protest  against  the  admission  of  Texas 
as  a  slave  State.  Charles  Francis  Adams  presided.  Resolu 
tions  drawn  up  by  Charles  Sumner  were  presented  by  John  G. 
Palfrey.  They  distinctly  set  forth  that  annexation  was  sought 
for  increasing  the  market  in  human  flesh,  for  extending  and 
perpetuating  slavery,  and  for  securing  political  power,  and  they 
protested  against  the  admission  of  Texas  as  a  slave  State  "  in 
the  name  of  God,  of  Christ,  and  of  humanity."  These  reso 
lutions  were  supported  in  earnest,  learned,  and  eloquent 
speeches  by  Mr.  Palfrey,  Mr.  Sumner,  Mr.  Phillips,  Mr.  Stan- 
ton,  Mr.  Hillard,  Mr.  Charming,  and  Mr.  Garrison. 

This  was  the  first  public  participation  of  Mr.  Sumner  in  that 
great  conflict  in  which  he  subsequently  bore  a  part  so  impor 
tant  and  honorable.  His  speech  and  the  resolutions  from  his 
pen  were  based  on  the  fixed  and  indestructible  principles  of 
justice,  humanity,  and  moral  rectitude.  Stating  that  the 
object  of  the  meeting  was  to  strengthen  the  hearts  and  hands 
of  those  opposed  to  the  admission  of  Texas  into  the  family 
of  States,  and  referring  to  the  voices  of  discouragement  they 
heard,  that  all  exertion  would  be  in  vain,  he  declared  that 
their  efforts  could  not  fail  to  accomplish  great  good,  as  no 
act  of  self-sacrifice  and  devotion  to  duty  can  ever  be  without 
its  reward.  Such  an  act  as  theirs,  he  said,  must  ever  stand 
as  a  landmark,  and  "  future  champions  of  equal  rights  and 
human  brotherhood  will  derive  new  strength  from  these  exer 
tions."  "  Massachusetts,"  he  said,  "  must  continue  foremost 
in  the  cause  of  freedom  ;  nor  can  her  children  yield  to  dal- 


646       RISE  AND  FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER  IN  AMERICA. 

liance  with  slavery.  They  must  resist  it  at  all  times,  and 
be  forearmed  against  its  fatal  influence."  He  closed  by  ex 
pressing  the  hope  that  it  might  be  hereafter  among  the  praises 
of  Massachusetts  that  "  on  this  occasion  she  knew  so  well  how 
to  say  '  No  ! '  " 

This  attempt,  however,  to  rally  the  people  of  Massachusetts 
and,  if  possible,  of  the  free  States,  resulted  in  the  most  dis 
heartening  revelation  of  sentiments  and  purposes  among  the 
leaders  and  in  the  ranks  of  the  Whig  party.  Indeed,  little  was 
found  that  was  calculated  to  inspire  courage  and  confidence. 
Prominent  and  honored  members  not  only  positively  declined 
to  take  any  part  in  the  movement  themselves,  but  discouraged 
the  efforts  of  others.  Abbott  Lawrence,  in  his  reply  to  the 
anti-Texas  committee,  said,  "  I  have  opposed  the  annexation  of 
Texas,  and  continued  my  opposition  so  long  as  it  was  an  open 
question.  I  deem  further  action  on  my  part  useless,  as  a  ma 
jority  of  the  people  have  decided  in  favor  of  annexation,  and 
Texas  now  virtually  composes  a  part  of  the  Union."  Nathan 
Appleton  went  still  further.  He  referred  to  the  fact  that  he 
saw  among  the  parties  engaged  in  the  movement  many  who 
had  distinguished  themselves  as  Abolitionists  ;  and  he  doubted 
whether  the  abolition  movement  was  "  reconcilable  with  duty 
under  the  Constitution."  At  any  rate  he  thought  it  had  pro 
duced  nothing  but  evil,  banded  the  South  into  a  solid  phalanx, 
exasperated  the  feelings  of  slaveholders,  increased  the  severity 
of  their  slave  laws,  postponed  the  period  of  emancipation  in 
the  Northern  slave  States,  and  secured  the  election  of  Mr. 
Polk  and  the  admission  of  Texas  into  the  Union.  "  I  can 
not,"  he  said,  "  take  part  in  this  Texas  movement.  For  all 
practical  purposes,  as  far  as  the  people  are  concerned,  I  con 
sider  the  question  as  settled.  I  have  opposed  it,  and  contrib 
uted  funds  to  oppose  it  so  long  as  there  appeared  a  chance  of 
preventing  it.  Massachusetts  has  done  her  duty,  and  her  sen 
ators  and  representatives  will  continue  to  do  theirs.  Beyond 
that  I  cannot  think  it  good  policy  to  waste  our  efforts  upon  the 
impossible."  These  sentiments  expressed  the  views  and  feel 
ings  of  a  large  class  of  Massachusetts  Whigs.  Although  no 
division  took  place  at  the  State  convention  of  that  year,  and  its 


TEXAS   ADMITTED   AS  A   SLAVE   STATE.  647 

resolutions  were  distinct  and  full  in  their  condemnation  of  an 
nexation,  and  of  the  continued  aggressions  of  the  Slave  Power, 
it  was  seen  and  felt  that  there  were  radical  differences  in  the 
party,  and  that  a  conflict  was  certain,  and  a  rupture  probable 
in  the  near  future. 

The  XXIXth  Congress  met  on  the  1st  of  December,  1845. 
On  the  10th  Mr.  Adams  presented  remonstrances  from  Massa 
chusetts  against  the  admission  of  Texas  into  the  Union  as  a 
slave  State,  and  moved  their  reference  to  a  select  committee. 
But  the  House,  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  fifteen  to  seventy- 
two,  laid  them  on  the  table.  The  next  day  a  large  number  of 
similar  memorials,  signed  by  thousands,  were  presented  by 
Mr.  Adams  and  other  members,  but  they  shared  the  same 
fate. 

On  the  16th  the  House  proceeded  to  the  consideration  of  the 
Joint  Resolution,  reported  by  Mr.  Douglas,  chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Territories,  for  the  admission  of  Texas  as  a 
State  into  the  Union.  The  previous  question,  with  indecent 
haste,  was  immediately  moved,  and  sustained,  by  eighteen 
majority,  and  the  bill  ordered  to  a  third  reading  by  a  major 
ity  of  eighty-four.  On  its  final  passage,  Mr.  Julius  Rockwell 
of  Massachusetts,  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Territories, 
contrived  to  obtain  the  floor,  and  spoke  earnestly  and  eloquently 
against  it.  He  declared  that  amidst  all  the  heat  and  dust, 
amidst  all  the  misrepresentations,  intrigues,  and  violent  efforts 
to  which  the  Texan  question  had  given  occasion,  there  stood 
out  one  honest  feature  on  the  part  of  the  government,  and 
that  was  the  clear,  distinct,  and  open  avowal,  that  the  motive 
was  the  preservation  of  domestic  slavery.  Massachusetts  dis 
sented  from  the  measure  on  that  very  ground.  She  objected 
to  annexation  because  that  had  been  the  purpose  in  urging  it, 
and  was  likely  to  prove  its  actual  effect.  As  one  called  to 
represent  in  part  the  people  of  his  ancient  Commonwealth,  he 
must  enter  his  "  solemn  protest  against  the  extension  of  slav 
ery,  as  an  evil  directed  against  the  truest  interests  of  his 
country  ;  as  militating  directly  against  her  prosperity  and  free 
dom,  and  darkening  that  national  character  which  she  ought 
to  hold  up  to  all  nations  and  ages  of  the  world ;  as  being  in 


648       KISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE   POWER   IN   AMERICA. 

opposition  to  the  Constitution  which  had  preserved  us  hitherto 
in  concord ;  as  against  the  principles  of  the  fathers  of  the 
republic,  who  lived  themselves  in  slaveholding  States,  who 
would  have  saved  us,  if  they  could,  from  so  great  an  evil,  and 
who  openly  confessed  that  they  trembled  for  their  country 
when  they  remembered  that  God  is  just.  The  vote  was  then 
taken,  and  the  resolution  of  admission  was  adopted  by  a  ma 
jority  of  eighty-five.  In  that  minority  of  fifty-six  there  were 
only  three  members  of  the  Democratic  party,  Preston  King, 
Bradford  R.  Wood,  and  Horace  Wheaton,  of  the  State  of  New 
York. 

On  the  22d  of  December  Mr.  Ashley  of  Arkansas  reported 
to  the  Senate  from  the  Judiciary  Committee  the  House  resolu 
tion,  and  that  body  proceeded  at  once  to  its  consideration. 
Mr.  Webster  rose  and  declared  that  he  had  felt  it  to  be  his 
duty  "  steadily,  uniformly,  and  zealously  to  oppose  it."  He 
closed  his  brief  speech  by  saying :  "  I  agree  with  the  unani 
mous  opinion  of  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts ;  I  agree  with 
the  great  mass  of  her  people  ;  I  reaffirm  what  I  have  said  and 
written  during  the  last  years  at  various  times  against  this 
annexation.  I  here  record  my  own  dissent  and  opposition  ; 
and  I  here  express  and  place  on  record,  also,  the  dissent  and 
protest  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts." 

But  all  arguments  were  unavailing,  and  the  protests,  how 
ever  impressively  pronounced,  by  States  or  statesmen,  could 
not  avert  the  impending  blow.  The  slaveholders  had  the 
"  giant's  strength,"  and  they  did  not  hesitate  to  "  use  it  like 
a  giant,"  however  "  tyrannous  "  it  might  appear.  By  a  vote 
of  thirty-one  to  fourteen  the  Joint  Resolution  was  passed, 
and  Texas  became  a  State  of  the  American  Union.  And  the 
saddest  page  in  this  gloomy  record,  the  bitterest  ingredient 
in  this  cup  of  humiliation,  was  the  large  support  the  measure 
received  from  the  free  States.  It  seemed  as  if  the  demon  of 
slavery  had  power  over  the  souls  as  well  as  the  bodies  of  men, 
and  by  his  infernal  sorceries  had  bound  the  one  as  completely 
as  the  other.  But  there  were  those  who  still  had  faith  in 
God  and  in  the  power  of  truth,  and  who  still  believed  that, 
in  some  way  they  were  not  able  to  forecast,  this  great  wrong 


TEXAS  ADMITTED  AS  A  SLAVE  STATE.         649 

would  be  righted  and  this  haughty  power  be  overborne.  At 
any  rate  they  meant  to  struggle  on  in  the  great  endeavor,  and 
hope  in  God  for  success. 

The  Massachusetts  Anti-Texas  Committee  issued  an  address 
to  the  public.  "  Massachusetts,"  it  said,  "  had  done  her  part 
honestly,  conscientiously,  and  manfully,  to  sustain  the  true 
principles  of  the  Puritans  of  New  England."  Affirming  that 
annexation  had  been  accomplished  by  slavery,  it  said  :  "  Slav 
ery  has  corrupted  liberty  in  her  fountain  seat ;  slavery  has 
hardened  the  hearts  of  this  generation  of  political  leaders,  so 
that  they  heed  no  warning  except  it  should  be  a  miracle  from 
heaven.  Slavery  has  infused  its  pestiferous  venom  into  the 
veins  of  the  body  politic  in  the  free  States  to  such  an  extent 
that  they  see  not  what  mere  instruments  of  tyranny  it  is  mak 
ing  of  their  people." 

This  address  from  the  pen  of  Charles  Francis  Adams  closed 
with  the  declaration :  "  The  contest  about  Texas  has  been 
fought  and  lost,  the  Constitution  trampled  under  foot,  and  the 
Spirit  of  Liberty  is  driven  from  her  natural  home ;  but  unnum 
bered  fields  yet  remain,  each  of  which  should  be  the  subject 
of  a  greater  contest  than  the  last,  until  either  the  institution 
of  slavery  shall  be  overthrown,  or  else  the  Samson  of  the 
North,  intoxicated  by  the  cup  of  worldly  prosperity,  and  en 
feebled  by  his  dalliance  with  the  harlot,  shall  ultimately  perish 
amidst  the  crumbling  of  the  edifice  which  he  had  made  for 
his  protection." 

Hitherto  the  government  of  the  United  States,  in  obedience 
to  the  exacting  demands  of  slave-masters,  had  indeed  been  per 
verted  from  its  original  purpose  to  the  antagonistic  and  degrad 
ing  service  of  protecting  and  fostering  domestic  slavery.  Now, 
in  obedience  to  fresh  demands,  the  nation  had  taken  another 
and  an  advanced  step,  and  had  officially  announced  through 
its  Secretary  of  State,  the  channel  of  communication  with  for 
eign  governments,  to  England,  France,  and  Mexico,  that  it 
looked  with  apprehension  upon  the  extinction  of  slavery  in  a 
foreign  nation,  and  demanded  the  annexation  of  that  nation, 
to  prevent  its  abolition  there,  and  to  strengthen  it  at  home. 
Regardless  of  the  opinion  of  the  Christian  and  civilized  world, 

82 


650        RISE  AND   FALL   OF   THE   SLAVE  POWEE  IN  AMERICA. 

it  had  avowed  these  motives  and  principles  of  action.  Nor 
were  the  means  employed  less  reprehensible  than  the  end  pro 
posed.  There  seemed,  moreover,  to  have  been  a  combination 
of  circumstances,  a  fatality,  not  to  say  fatuity,  of  conduct, 
which  conspired  to  facilitate  and  effect  the  result  so  pregnant 
with  danger  and  dishonor. 

The  underlying  cause  of  this  complete  victory  of  the  Slave 
Power  was  unquestionably  the  inadequate  conception  by  the 
people  of  the  high  and  comprehensive  duties  of  self-govern 
ment.  That  was  the  weak  and  vulnerable  point  of  the  contest. 
Busy  on  their  farms,  in  their  work-shops,  factories,  and  stores, 
masses  of  the  people  too  often  think  they  are  fulfilling  the 
duties  of  citizenship  by  sometimes  voting  at  elections  and  pa 
triotically  observing  the  anniversary  of  national  independence. 
Is  it  singular,  then,  that  the  clearest  utterances,  the  most 
solemn  warnings  and  earnest  appeals,  failed  of  evoking  hearty 
and  effective  responses  ?  Failing  to  comprehend,  notwithstand 
ing  all  that  was  spoken  and  written,  the  real  iniquity  of  the 
Texas  plot,  many  left  that  troublesome  question  to  be  solved 
by  the  political  leaders  at  Washington,  while  they  answered 
the  demands  of  their  business  and  grappled  with  the  problems 
of  their  personal  and  domestic  life.  Perhaps  in  coming  years 
juster  views  of  personal  responsibility  will  obtain,  and  it  will 
be  seen  and  felt  that  republicanism  is  not  a  mere  sentiment ; 
that  human  rights  are  indissolubly  linked  with  human  re 
sponsibilities  ;  that  freedom  is  not  a  glittering  bauble  which 
constitutions  can  confer,  but  a  prize  that  is  to  be  won  and 
kept  in  the  presence  of  active  and  ever-watchful  foes. 

And,  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events,  is  there  reason  to 
doubt  that  there  was  a  higher  than  any  human  agency  at  work 
in  the  defeat  of  Mr.  Clay  and  the  success  of  the  annexation 
plot,  then  deemed  so  mysterious  and  unfortunate  ?  As  it  is 
the  general  conviction,  that,  in  1861,  the  nation  was  not  pre 
pared  for  victory  on  the  battle-field  of  Bull  Run,  then  wisely 
and  fortunately  withheld,  may  it  not  be  believed  that,  in  essen 
tially  the  same  conflict  and  for  essentially  the  same  reasons,  it 
was  not  prepared  for  triumph  in  1844  ?  The  success  of  the 
Slave  Power  then  may  now  be  looked  upon  not  only  as  a  means 


TEXAS  ADMITTED  AS  A  SLAVE  STATE.         651 

of  stimulating  its  grasping  purposes  and  its  vaulting  ambition 
till  it  o'erleaped  itself  and  rushed  to  its  own  overthrow,  but  as 
a  necessary  step  in  that  march  of  events  which  has  so  rapidly 
and  wonderfully  opened  the  continent  to  the  forces  of  a  fresher 
energy  and  a  higher  civilization.  "  God  in  history,"  to  the 
American  and  Christian  patriot  thus  instructed,  should  there 
fore  be  a  perpetual  inspiration  in  the  darkest  hour,  a  perennial 
source  of  faith  and  hope,  of  consolation  and  courage. 


INDEX  TO  VOL.  I. 


ABERDEEN,  Lord,  597. 

Abolitionists,  dissensions  among,  406- 
410. 

Adams,  Benjamin,  of  Mass.,  76. 

Adams,  Charles  Francis,  of  Mass.,  485, 
491,  585,  622,  642,  645,  649. 

Adams,  John,  Commissioner  to  Paris, 
113. 

Adams,  John  Quincy.  Remarks  on 
speech  of  Rufus  King,  143.  On  Mis 
souri  Compromise,  149.  Presents  peti 
tions,  307, 311.  Remarks  on  admission 
of  Arkansas,  344.  Presents  petition 
from  slaves,  346,  348.  Impressive  re 
marks  on  right  of  petition,  350,  353. 
On  power  of  Congress  to  abolish 
slavery,  395.  Remarks  on  petition, 
399.  Action  on  revision  of  rules,  424. 
His  reply  to  Rayner  of  North  Caro 
lina,  425.  Further  defence  of  right 
of  petition  and  debate,  427.  Presents 
petition  for  dissolution  of  the  Union, 
427.  Attempt  to  censure  him,  428.  His 
scathing  reply  to  Wise,  430.  His  ten 
years'  struggle  for  right  of  petition, 
432.  Not  friendly  to  abolition  so 
cieties  and  measures,  433.  Criticisms 
on  his  course,  435  -  437.  Defends 
right  of  slaves  of  "  Creole  "  to  their 
liberty,  447.  As  counsel  for  slaves  of 
the  "  Amistad,"  463.  His  defence  in 
"  Amistad  "  case,  467  -  469.  Presents 
petition  of  Massachusetts  basing  repre 
sentation  on  free  persons,  482.  Speaks 
against  the  doctrine  of  property  in 


man,  532.  Presents  remonstrances 
from  Massachusetts  against  admission 
of  Texas,  647. 

Alford,  of  Ga.,  347. 

Allen,  Charles,  of  Mass.,  370,  623. 

Allen,  of  Conn.,  82. 

Alvord,  James  C.,  of  Mass.,  371,  372. 

"  Amistad,"  seized  by  slaves  on  board, 
and  brought  into  New  London,  Conn., 
457.  Slaves  of,  declared  free  by  Judge 
Story,  465. 

Anderson,  R.  C.,  of  Ky.,  74,  115. 

Andrews,  resident  in  Texas,  596. 

Anne,  Queen,  instructions  of,  to  Royal 
African  Company,  4,  5. 

Anti-government,  its  advocates  and 
measures,  568.  Repeal  of  the  Union 
demanded,  meetings  and  debates,  569  - 
575. 

Antonio  Pacheco,  543. 

Antislavery  publications.  "  Genius  of 
Universal  Emancipation,"  169.  "Na 
tional  Inquirer,"  174.  "Pennsylva 
nia  Freeman,"  174.  "Liberator," 
176.  "Journal  of  the  Times,"  177. 
"  Emancipator,"  231 .  Tracts  and  doc 
uments  issued  from  New  York  office 
in  one  year,  272.  "  Philanthropist," 
276.  Measures  to  suppress  their  cir 
culation  through  the  mails,  323  -  327. 
"  Observer,"  at  St.  Louis,  375.  "  Abo 
litionist,"  412.  "Antislavery  Stand 
ard,"  421.  "Philanthropist,"  557. 
"Liberty  Bell,"  562.  "  True  Ameri 
can,"  632.  "  Texas  Chain  Breaker," 
645. 

Antislavery  Societies.   Pennsylvania,  ad- 


654 


INDEX. 


dress  of,  to  governors  of  States,  23. 
Memorials  of,  to  Congress,  24.  New 
Haven,  one  of  oldest,  25.  In  New 
York,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New 
Jersey,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia, 
and  Baltimore,  26  -  28.  Societies  in 
general,  and  their  influence,  28.  Con 
vention  of  societies,  80.  Union  Hu 
mane,  168.  New  England,  224  -  228. 
New  York  City,  231.  American, 
formed  in  Philadelphia,  249-263. 
Declaration  of  Sentiments,  256-259. 
Personnel,  259  -  263.  Female,  Boston, 
281.  South  demands  of  Northern 
legislatures  to  suppress  them,  325. 
Action  of  Massachusetts  Society  in 
defence  of  liberty  of  speech  and  press, 
330.  Meetings  and  measures  on  occa 
sion  of  the  martyrdom  of  Lovejoy, 
383  -  389.  Massachusetts  Abolition, 
414.  American  and  Foreign,  origin 
and  formation  of,  420.  Disruption  of 
American,  421 .  Number,  agency,  and 
diminished  importance  of,  422.  Old 
and  new  organizations  pitted  against 
each  other,  559.  Their  diminished 
number  and  importance,  567.  Ameri 
can  advocates  disunion,  568  -  572. 

Appleton,  Nathan,  of  Mass.,  638,  646. 

Arbuckle,  General,  525,  542. 

Archer,  of  Va.,  157,  530,  615. 

Arkansas.  Bill  for  territorial  government 
in,  139.  Prohibition  of  slavery  in, 
moved  by  Mr.  Taylor,  139.  Amend 
ments  prohibiting  slavery  in,  lost,  140. 
Admitted  as  a  slaveholding  Territory, 
140.  Applies  for  enabling  act,  343. 
Admitted  to  the  Union,  345. 

Arnold,  of  Tenn.,  430,  453. 

Ashburton  Treaty,  401,  452. 

Ashley,  of  Ark.,  648. 

Atherton,  of  N.  H.,  394,  395. 

Atlee,  Dr.  Edwin  P.,  250. 

Attucks,  Crispus,  colored  patriot,  first 
martyr  in  Boston  Massacre,  18. 

Austin,  Elbridge  Gerry,  of  Boston,  in 
Latimer  case,  477. 

Austin,  James  T.,  of  Boston,  disgraceful 
speech  of,  384. 

Aves,  Thomas,  of  Boston,  371. 


B. 


Bacon,  of  Mass.,  85. 

Bailey,  Dr.,  of  Pa.,  418,  476. 

Baldwin,  Judge,  of  Conn.,  75,  462. 

Baldwin,  of  Ga.,  51,  64. 

Ballou,  Adin,  574. 

Baltimore,  Abolition  Society  of,  28. 
Journal  of,  describes  domestic  slave 
scene,  99. 

Bancroft,  George.  Comment  on  slave- 
traffic  and  British  policy,  16.  On 
foundation  of  new  republic,  18. 

Barbour,  Philip  P.,  of  Va.,  137,  530. 

Barnard,  Daniel  D.,  of  N.  Y.,  531,  613. 

Barrow,  of  La.,  442,  444. 

Bates,  of  Mass.,  484. 

Bayard,  James  A.,  of  Del.,  82,  84. 

Beach,  Thomas  P.,  564. 

Beardsley,  Samuel,  of  Utica,  N.  Y.,  288, 
311. 

Beecher,  Dr  Edward,  361,  379,  380, 
420. 

Bell,  Joseph,  of  Mass.,  622. 

Beman,  D,r.  S.  S.,  294. 

Benezet,  Anthony,  10. 

Benson,  ofN.  Y.,  67. 

Benton,  Thomas  H.,  of  Mo.,  342,  343, 
392,  401,  443,  600,  610,  617. 

Berrien,  John  M.,  of  Ga.,  618. 

Berry,  of  Va.,  204. 

Bill.  Of  Mr.  Fitzsimmons,  prohibiting 
slavery  in  territory  northwest  of  the 
Ohio,  33.  Of  committee  on  slave- 
trade,  103.  By  Mr.  Middleton  in  ad 
dition  to  acts  prohibiting  slave-traffic, 
105.  To  punish  with  death  persons 
engaged  in  slave-trade,  105.  To  pre 
vent  fitting  out  slave- trading  expedi 
tions,  107.  For  admission  of  Mis 
souri  Territory,  136.  Prohibiting  slav 
ery  in  Missouri  lost,  139.  Providing 
Territorial  government  for  Arkansas, 
139.  To  admit  Missouri  as  State, 
141.  For  the  admission  of  Maine, 
141.  For  prohibition  in  Missouri,  de 
feated,  143.  Passed  in  Senate,  prohib 
iting  slavery  in  country  ceded  by 
France,  143.  In  House,  with  amend 
ment  forbidding  slavery  and  involun- 


INDEX. 


655 


tary  servitude  in  Missouri,  143-145, 
and  passed,  147.  Taken  up  in  Senate 
and  prohibition  clause  stricken  out, 
147.  From  committee  of  conference, 
debated  and  passed  both  Houses,  148. 
For  suppression  of  freedom  of  speech 
and  press,  340.  Incendiary  Publica 
tion,  lost  in  Senate,  342.  To  secure 
trial  by  jury  for  one  restrained  of  lib 
erty,  371.  Recognizing  property  in 
man,  passed  by  Congress,  543. 

Birney,  James  G.,  275.  Emancipates 
his  slaves,  276,  407.  Endorses  politi 
cal  action,  413,  418,  420,  436,  545. 
Candidate  for  the  presidency,  549. 

Black,  of  Ga.,  454,  455. 

Blanchard,  Eev.  Jonathan,  293. 

Bloomfield,  General  Joseph,  of  N.  J., 
president  of  Convention  of  Abolition 
Societies,  80. 

Boiling,  of  Va.,  196. 

Bond,  George,  of  Mass.,  337. 

Borden,  Nathaniel  B.,  of  Mass.,  622. 

"  Boston/'  ship,  with  slave  secreted,  473. 

Botts,  of  Va.,  398,  430,  449,  481. 

Boutwell,  George  S.,  of  Mass.,  486. 

Bowditch,  Henry  I.,  of  Boston,  479,  498. 

Bowditch,  William  I.,  of  Mass.,  640. 

Bradburn,  George,  of  Mass.,  489,  490, 
572,  573. 

Bradford,  Dr.  Gamaliel,  of  Mass.,  337. 

Bradish,  Luther,  of  N.  Y.,  546. 

Briggs,  George  N.,  of  Mass.,  309,  344, 
534,  578,  585,  622. 

British  governor,  spirited  reply  of,  to 
U.  S.  government,  121. 

Brodnax,  of  Va.,  192. 

Brooks,  Nathan,  of  Mass.,  546. 

Brougham,  Lord,  of  England,  566,  597. 

Brown,  David  Paul,  of  Phila.,  266,  294. 

Brown,  John  L.,  sentenced  to  death,  565. 

Brown,  Milton,  of  Pa.,  614. 

Brown,  of  Ky.,  160. 

Brown,  of  Miss.,  543. 

Brown,  of  R.  I.,  73,  84. 

Brownson,  Orestes  A.,  of  Boston,  388. 

Bryant,  William  C.,  of  N.  Y.,  451,  596. 

Buchanan,  James,  of  Pa.,  315,  343,  393, 
402. 

Buffum,  Arnold,  226,  295,  571. 


Burgess,  Tristam,  of  R.  I.,  530. 
Burleigh,  Charles  C.,  of  Conn.,  244,  294, 

295,  416,  574. 
Burr,  of  Va.,  204. 
Burrill,  of  R.  I.,  104,  106,  155. 
Burrows,  Thomas  K.,  of  Pa.,  327. 
Burt,  Armistead,  of  S.  C.,  543. 
Butler,  of  S.  C ,  53,  398. 

C. 

Cabot,  of  Mass.,  69. 

Calderon,  Mr.,  Spanish  minister,  458. 

Calhoun,  John  C.,  of  S.  C.,  314,  315, 
324,  397,  440,  445,  590,  595,  599.  Re 
port  on  incendiary  publications,  340  - 
342, 390.  Resolutions  of,  39 1 .  Secre 
tary  of  State,  600. 

Cambreleng,  Churchill  C.,  of  N.  Y.,329. 

Campbell,  of  S.  C.,  352,  533. 

Campbell,  of  Tenn.,  104. 

Canning,  Stratford,  108. 

"  Carter,  Robert,"  schooner,  474. 

Cass,  Lewis,  515. 

Castlereagh,  Lord,  proposition  of,  to  con 
cede  right  of  search,  108. 

Causin,  of  Md.,  455. 

Chandler,  Elizabeth  M.,  assistant  editor 
with  Lundy  and  Garrison,  173. 

Chandler,  of  Va.,  193. 

Channing,  Rev.  William  Ellery,  of  Bos 
ton,  337,  383,  640. 

Channing,  William  F.,  of  Boston,  479. 

Channing,  William  Henry,  of  Mass.,  643. 

Chapman,  of  Mass.,  413. 

Chapman,  Mrs.  Maria  W.,  of  Boston, 
281,  296. 

Chase,  of  Maryland,  15,  32. 

Chase,  Salmon  P.,  477,  551,  553. 

Child,  David  Lee,  223,  229,  482,  538, 
571. 

Child,  Linus,  of  Mass.,  486,  622. 

Child,  Mrs.  Lydia  Maria,  236,  419,  561. 

Choate,  Rufus,  of  Boston,  371,  403,  485, 
615. 

Christie,  of  Md.,  73. 

Claggett,  of  N.  H.,  75. 

Clarkson,  Thomas,  of  England,  399. 

Clay,  Cassius  M.,  of  Ky.,  628,  630-635. 

Clay,  Henry,  of  Ky.,  110,  130,  137,  13<\ 


656 


INDEX. 


145,  160,  342,  394,  396,  423,  442,  445, 
451,  604,  607. 

Clay,  of  Ala.,  308. 

Clarkson,  Thomas,  received  an  impulse 
from  writings  of  Benezet,  a  Huguenot, 
10. 

Clayton,  John  M.,  345. 

Cleaveland,  Professor  Charles  D.,  of 
Philadelphia,  553. 

Clergy  of  South,  not  opposed  to  slavery 
or  slave-trade,  63.  Their  course  before 
and  during  the  Rebellion,  63.  Sanc 
tion  mob  violence,  323. 

Clifford,  Governor,  of  Mass.,  497. 

Clinch,  Colonel,  blows  up  fort,  130.  Or 
dered  to  attack  Fort  King,  516. 

Coates,  Lindley,  of  Pa.,  421. 

Cobb,  Howell,  of  Ga.,  75,  138,  542. 

Cobb,  William  R.,  of  Ala.,  543. 

Cockburn,  Admiral,  refuses  to  surrender 
slaves  under  Treaty  of  Ghent,  120. 

Colden,  of  N.  Y.,  78. 

Coleman,  Elihu,  pamphlet  against  mak 
ing  men  slaves,  9. 

Coles,  Governor,  of  HI.,  163. 

Collegiate  school  for  colored  people,  238. 

Colonies,  articles  of  association,  18. 

Colonization  Society,  organization  and 
inconsistencies  of,  208.  Objects  fa 
vored  by  Rev.  Dr.  Hopkins,  209. 
Encouraged  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  209. 
Its  principles  indorsed  by  Virginia 
legislature,  210.  Characterized  by 
hostility  to  free  blacks,  212,  214.  Real 
intent  of  its  leaders  to  render  slavery 
more  secure,  214.  Distrusted  by  free 
people  of  color,  216,  217.  Mr.  Web 
ster's  opinion  of,  219.  Rum,  pow 
der,  and  arms  sent  with  negroes  to 
Liberia,  220.  Mr.  Garrison  sent  to 
England  to  unfold  real  character  of 
the  society,  220.  Protest  of  Wilber- 
force  and  others  against  it,  221. 

Colored  people,  ejected  from  cars,  493, 
494.  Children  of,  excluded  from  pub 
lic  schools,  495  -  497.  Legislation  in 
their  behalf,  497. 

Colored  soldiers,  at  Boston  Massacre, 
18.  At  Bunker  Hill,  19.  Regiment 
of,  in  Rhode  Island,  19.  Notice  of,  by 


Governor  Eustis,  19.  By  Tristam 
Burgess,  19.  By  Arnold  in  "  History 
of  Rhode  Island,"  19.  Battalion  of,  in 
Connecticut,  19.  Right  to  bear  arms 
disputed,  20.  Reduced  to  slavery  in 
Maryland  and  Virginia,  20. 

Colston,  of  Va.,  138. 

Colver,  Rev.  Nathaniel  C.,  of  Boston, 
414,  480. 

Columbia,  District  of.     See  Slave-trade. 

Confederation,  obstacles  to,  15.  Discus 
sion  resumed  in  1777, 16.  No  power 
to  regulate  commerce,  16.  Plan  of,  re 
turned  to  Congress  with  recommenda 
tion,  16.  Convention  called  to  revise 
its  articles,  40. 

Congress,  first,  met  in  New  York,  57. 
Its  powers  enunciated,  debated,  and  de 
fined,  67.  Its  right  to  prohibit  slavery 
in  new  States  affirmed  by  Northern 
legislatures,  151. 

Compromises,  etc.     See  Constitution. 

Connecticut.  Colony  of,  made  man-steal 
ing  capital  offence,  6.  Disgraceful 
law  of  State  of,  242.  Legislature  of, 
repeals  black  law,  372.  Resolutions 
of,  against  annexation  of  Texas,  373. 

Conrad,  Charles  M.,  of  La.,  402. 

Constitution,  reasons  for,  39.  Difficul 
ties  in  the  way  of,  40-42.  Slavery 
the  great  obstacle,  41 .  Basis  of  repre 
sentation  in,  42  -  44.  Southern  threats, 
44.  "  Religion  and  humanity  "  and 
the  "morality"  of  the  question  ig 
nored,  49.  A  "bargain"  proposed 
and  accepted  as  a  compromise,  53,  54. 
Decisive  victory  of  the  Slave  Power, 
54  -  56. 

Continental  Congress  signed  "Articles 
of  Association,"  13.  Pledged  united 
colonies  not  to  import  or  purchase  any 
slave,  13.  Slaveholding  threat  in,  15. 
Articles  adopted,  and  other  proceed 
ings,  14.  Theory  of  human  equality 
enunciated,  41. 

Cook,  of  111.,  144,  157. 

Cooper,  James,  of  Pa.,  532. 

Cooper,  Mark  A.,  of  Ga.,  398,  450,  532. 

Corey,  trainer  of  Douglass,  501,  510. 
!  Corwin,  Governor,  of  Ohio,  476. 


INDEX. 


657 


Cox,  Dr.  Abraham  L.,  of  N.  Y.,  260. 

Crandall,  Miss  Prudence,  her"  colored 
school  in  Conn.,  240.  Persecution 
and  imprisonment  of,  241.  Subse 
quent  proceedings,  242  -  247.  Public 
morality  at  a  low  ebb,  246,  247- 

Crandall,  Dr.  Reuben,  imprisoned  in 
Washington,  306. 

Crapo,  Judge,  of  Mass.,  492. 

Crawford,  William  H.,  532. 

Creeks  and  Seminoles,  treaty  with,  525. 

"  Creole,"  brig,  seized  by  slaves,  443. 

Crittenden,  John  J.,  of  Ky.,  77,  451,  616. 

Crothers,  Dr.  Samuel,  of  Ohio.  His  ac 
tion  in  Cincinnati  Synod,  178. 

Gushing,  Caleb,  of  Mass.,  344,  536,  546. 

D. 

Dade,  Major,  shot  in  Florida,  with  his 

command,  517. 
Daggett,  Judge,  of  Conn.,  decision  of,  in 

Crandall  case,  245. 
Dallas,  George  M.,  of  Pa.,  604. 
Dane,  Nathan,  32. 
Davie,  General,  of  N.  C.,  44. 
Davis,  George  T.,  of  Mass.,  489. 
Davis,  John,  of  Mass.,  340, 341,  393, 442. 
Dawson,  of  La.,  455,  537. 
Dawson,  William  C.,  of  Ga.,  351. 
Dayton,  William  L.,  of  N.  J.,  615. 
De  Argaiz,  Spanish  minister,  460. 
Denison,  Rev.  Charles  W.,  231,  232,  250, 

252,  419. 

Dew,  Professor,  100. 
Dexter,  Franklin,  of  Mass.,  489. 
Dickey,  of  Pa.,  543. 
Dickson,  John,  of  N.  Y.,  311. 
Dillett,  of  Ala.,  431. 
Doddridge,  of  Va.,  308. 
Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  of  111.,  610. 
Douglass,  Frederick,  493,  499-511. 
Drayton,  of  S.  C.,  529. 
Dresser,  Amos,  357. 
Dutch  ship  entered  James   River  with 

slaves   1620,   same  year  with  ''May 
flower,"  2. 
Dutch  West  India  Company  offered  to 

supply  New  York  with  slaves,  5. 
Duty  on  slaves  imported,  debated  in  first 

Congress,  57. 

83 


E. 


Earle,  Thomas,  of  Pa.,  549,  569,  571. 

Eaton,  of  Tenn.,  105,  154. 

Edmond,  of  Conn.,  73. 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  his  proclamation  in 
1791  concerning  slavery  and  freedom, 
27.  Address  of  national  convention  to 
South  Carolina  written  by  him,  28. 

Eliot,  Rev.  John,  his  memorial  to  the 
governor  and  council  against  enslav 
ing  Indians,  7. 

Elliot,  of  Ga.,  141. 

Ellsworth,  Oliver,  of  Conn.,  35,  50. 

Ellsworth,  Hon.  William  W.,  of  Conn., 
counsel  for  Miss  Crandall,  243. 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  of  Mass.,  641. 

Evans,  George,  of  Me.,  350. 

Everett,  Edward,  of  Mass.,  328,  329, 
445,  530,  597. 

Everett,  Horace,  of  Vt,  429,  448,  524. 

Exiles,  Florida,  127  - 134. 


F. 


Fairs,  antislavery,  their  success  and  im 
portance,  561. 

Faulkner,  Charles  J.,  of  Va.,  199. 

Fessenden,  of  Me.,  448. 

Fillmore,  Millard,  308,  402,  546. 

Finley,  Rev.  Robert,  of  Va.,  211. 

Fitzsimmons,  Thomas,  of  Pa.,  33. 

Fletcher,  Richard,  of  Boston,  281. 

Florida,  introduction  of  slaves  into,  in 
1558,  124.  Law  for  annexation  of, 
128.  Georgia  sends  armed  force  into, 
128,  129.  Fort  in,  blown  up  and  de 
struction  of  life,  130.  War  in,  cause, 
duration,  cost,  etc.,  512  -  525. 

Floyd,  Governor,  of  Va.,  191. 

Follen,  Professor  Charles,  of  Mass.,  333, 
335,  545. 

Foot,  Solomon,  of  Vt.,  455. 

Foote,  of  Conn.,  158. 

Forsyth,  John,  of  Ga.,  462,  590. 

Fort  Jupiter,  Florida,  522. 

Fort  King,  in  Florida,  Major  Dade  or 
dered  to  attack  it,  516. 

Forward,  Walter,  of  Philadelphia,  294. 

Foster,  E.  H.,  of  Tenn.,  616. 


658 


INDEX. 


Foster,  S.  S.,  552,  564,  570,  625. 

Foster,  Stephen,  of  N.  H.,  65. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  of  Pa.,  president  of 
Pennsylvania  Abolition  Society,  23. 
His  proposition  on  basis  of  represen 
tation,  42.  Author  of  memorial  to 
Congress,  62.  Last  and  wisest  of  his 
counsels,  62. 

Frelinghuysen,  Theodore,  235. 

Friends,  society  of,  early  antislavery  ad 
vocates,  9. 

Fugitive  slaves,  demand  of  Butler  of 
S.  C.,  that  they  be  delivered  up  like 
criminals,  53.  His  amendment  agreed 
to,  54.  Provision  for  the  rendition  of, 
inserted  in  Constitution,  54.  Argu 
ments  of  Southern  members  for  rendi 
tion  of,  54.  Bill  of  1 793  for  rendition  of, 
passed  both  Houses,  69.  Committee  of 
House  appointed  to  provide  more  effec 
tual  means  for  rendition  of,  74.  Bill 
for  rendition  of,  reported  in  House 
and  fiercely  debated,  74-77.  Further 
measures  in  the  House  for  securing 
rendition  of,  78.  Bill  for  rendition  of, 
reported  and  debated,  78.  Demanded 
of  British  government,  120.  Paid  for 
by  England  under  decision  of  Em- ' 
perorof  Russia,  121.  Treaty  stipula 
tion  in  1790  for  return  of,  125.  Span 
ish  refuse  to  surrender  them,  126.  | 
Rendition  of,  sought  by  various  meas- 1 
ures,  127.  Their  recovery  sought  by 
annexation  of  Florida,  128.  War  on 
Florida  for  recapture  of,  128,  129. 
Pursued  by  slave-hunters  among  In 
dians,  134.  Decision  of  Supreme ' 
Court  on  rendition  of,  471.  Act  of 
New  York  legislature  concerning 
them,  474.  Action  of  Gov.  Seward  in 
relation  to,  475.  Mr.  Wilson's  motion  | 
in  Massachusetts  Senate  for  their  pro-  j 
tection,  637. 

Fuller,  James  C.,  of  N.  Y.,  413. 


G. 

Gaines,  General,  129,  540. 
Gallatin,  Albert,  37,  80,  601. 
Garland,  Rice,  of  La.,  398. 


Garnettj  James  M.,  33. 

Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  his  birth  and 
early  labors,  176.  In  Baltimore  pris 
on,  180.  His  assertion  of  principles 
and  purposes,  180,  181.  Establishes 
"  Liberator"  in  Boston,  182.  A  price 
put  upon  his  head  by  slaveholders, 
186.  His  influence,  183  - 186.  Mission 
of,  to  England,  220.  Connection  with 
New  England  Antislavery  Society,  224. 
In  other  relations,  250,  252.  260,  284, 
295,  332,  358,  388,  435,  545,  557,  563, 
570,  574,  639,  643. 

Gayle,  Governor,  of  Ala.,  326. 

Georgia,  settled  by  colonies  under  James 
Oglethorpe,  4.  He  opposed  slavery,  4. 
Slaves  introduced  into,  from  Africa, 
4.  Claimed  territory  forming  States 
of  Alabama  and  Mississippi,  35. 
Ceded  her  territory  in  1 802,  on  condi 
tion  that  slavery  be  not  prohibited, 
35.  Sends  forces  into  Creek  country 
to  burn  and  murder,  126.  Governor 
of,  sends  military  forces  into  Florida, 
128,  129.  Fort  in,  destroyed,  and 
terrible  massacre,  130.  Paid  by  gov 
ernment  for  wanton  outrages  in  Flori 
da,  132. 

Gentry,  Meredith  P.,  of  Tenn.,  398. 

Gerry,  Elbridge,  of  Mass.,  51,  65. 

Ghent,  Treaty  of,  provided  for  restora 
tion  of  slaves,  120. 

Gholson,  of  Va.,  100. 

Giddings,  Joshua  R.,  425,  442,  447,  448. 
Is  censured  by  the  House  and  resigns, 
re-elected  and  returns,  451,  452,  454, 
467,  484,  532-534,  537,  543,  614, 
620. 

Gilbert,  of  N.  J.,  72. 

Giles,  of  Va.,  36. 

Gillette,  Francis,  of  Conn.,  372. 

Gilmer,  Thomas  W.,  of  Va.,  428,  592. 

Goddard,  Hon.  Calvin,  of  Conn.,  coun 
sel  for  Miss  Crandall,  243. 

Goldsborough,  of  Md.,  103. 

Goode,  William  O.,  of  Va.,  73. 

Goodell,  William,  232,  234,  250,  260, 332, 
336,  408,  421,  436,  545. 

Gorham,  of  Mass.,  42. 

Gouveneur,  Samuel  L.,  of  N.  Y.,  323. 


INDEX. 


659 


Goran,  of  S.  C.,  107. 

Gorernment,  powers  of,  in  regard  to 
slavery  defined,  65.  Humiliating  po 
sition  of,  1 1 2.  Want  of  sympathy  with 
other  republics,  113-118.  Signal 
injustice  towards  Indians,  127-134, 
514  -  527.  Seat  of,  on  slave  soil, 
299. 

Granger,  Francis,  of  N.  Y.,  347,  398. 

Grantland,  of  Ga.,  347. 

Green,  Beriah,  of  N.  Y.,  249,  250. 

Green,  Duff,  596. 

Green,  William,  Jr.,  of  N.  Y.,  250. 

Griffin,  John  K.,  of  S.  C.,  351. 

Griffith,  Admiral,  refuses  to  surrender 
fugitive  slaves  to  United  States,  121. 

Grimke,  Miss  Angelina,  296,  372. 

Grundy,  Felix,  Attorney-General,  U.  S., 
in  "  Amistad"  case,  459,  468,  515. 

Gunn,  James,  of  Ga.,  113. 

H. 

Hale,  John  P.,  of  N.  H.,  432,  610,  624, 
626,  627. 

Hall,  Robert  B.,  225,  359. 

Hallett,  Benjamin  F.,  384. 

Halsey,  of  Ga.,  352. 

Hamilton,  of  N.  Y.,  26. 

Hamlin,  Hannibal,  of  Me.,  432,  610. 

Hamlin,  of  Ohio,  613. 

Hammet,  of  Miss.,  603. 

Hammond,  James  H.,  Governor  of  S. 
C.,  309,  313,  579. 

Harding,  John  J.,  of  111.,  613. 

Hardin,  of  Ky.,  145. 

Harper,  of  S.  C.,  35. 

Harrison,  William  Henry,  president  of 
convention  in  1802  to  memorialize 
Congress,  33.  Elected  President,  423. 
Death  of,  423. 

Hartley,  of  Pa.,  61,  65. 

Hayne,  R.  Y.,  of  S.  C.,  speech  of,  on 
Haytien  independence,  117. 

Haynes,  of  Ga.,  347. 

Hayti,  government  organized  by  negroes, 
114.  Surrender  of  Napoleon  to  ar 
mies  of,  114.  Congress  suspended 
commercial  intercourse  with,  114. 
Speech  of  Mr.  Hayne  on  indepen 


dence  of,  117.  Petition  in  1838,  for 
recognition  of  independence  of,  117. 

1  Hazard,  of  R.  I.,  322,  326. 

Hemphill,  of  Pa.,  157. 

Henshaw,  Daniel,  of  Mass.,  493. 

1  Hernandez,  General,  521. 

j  Heyrick,  Elizabeth,  pamphlet,  178. 

Hicks,  Elias,  Quaker,  166. 

Hildreth,  Richard,  572. 

Hill,  Isaac,  of  N.  H.,  317. 

Hill,  John,  of  N.  C.,  85. 

Hillard,  George  S.,  of  Mass.,  338,  366, 
384,  479. 

Hillhouse,  of  Conn.,  83. 

Hoar,  E.  Rockwood,  of  Mass.,  642. 

Hoar,  Samuel,  of  Mass.,  sent  to  Charles 
ton  in  behalf  of  colored  seamen,  his 
treatment  and  return,  578  -  582. 

Holabird,  of  Conn.,  his  connection  with 
the  "  Amistad  "  case,  458. 

Holley,  Myron,  545,  547. 

Holmes,  Isaac  E.,  of  S.  C.,  448,  *82, 
612. 

Holmes,  John,  of  Mass.,  afterwards  of 
Me.,  75,  77,  156. 

Hopkins,  of  Va.,  428. 

Hopkins,  Dr.  Samuel,  distinguished  for 
advocacy  of  human  rights,  11.  His 
noble  act  praised  by  Whittier,  12.  In 
1776  published  "Dialogue"  on  slav 
ery,  12.  Dedicated  it  to  Continental 
Congress,  12.  Action  of  his  church 
against  slavery,  12.  Characterized 
slave-trade  as  sevenfold  abomination, 
47.  Sympathy  with  Colonization  So 
ciety,  209. 

Hopkinson,  of  Pa.,  75. 

Hopper,  Isaac  T.,  232. 

Houston,  Samuel,  of  Tenn.,  589. 

Howe,  General  Appleton,  of  Mass.,  490. 

Howell,  John  R.,  killed  on  board  "  Crcs 
ole,"  443. 

Howell,  of  R.  I,  32. 

Hubbard,  of  N.  H.,  391. 

Hubbard,  of  Vt,  292. 

Hubbard,  Henry,  of  Mass.,  agent  to  New 
Orleans  in  behalf  of  colored  seamen, 
582. 

Hudson,  Charles,  of  Mass.,  455. 

Hunt,  of  N.  Y.,  310. 


660 


INDEX. 


Hunt,  General,  Texan  minister,  proposes 

annexation,  590. 

Hunt,  Rev.  Samuel,  of  Mass.,  642. 
Hunter,  R.  M.  T.,  of  Va.,  398. 
Huntington,  Elisha,  of  Mass.,  642. 
Huntington,  of  Conn.,  65. 
Hurlburt,  Rev.  Mr.,  292. 


Ide,  Rev.  Dr.  Jacob,  262. 

Illinois,  conspiracy  to  make  her  a  slave 
State,  161.  Constitution  of,  limiting 
suffrage  to  free  white  persons  and  for 
bidding  slavery,  62.  Legislature  of, 
enacts  code  of  black  laws,  162.  Fail 
ure  of  efforts  to  make  it  a  slave  State, 
164. 

Independence,  Declaration  of,  clause  re 
probating  slavery  struck  out,  15.  Of 
thirteen  Colonies  acknowledged,  31. 

Indiana,  action  of  her  Territorial  legis 
lature  concerning  negroes  or  mulattoes, 
162. 

Indians,  strange  and  cruel  conduct  to 
wards,  123-126. 

Ingersoll,  Charles  J.,  of  Pa.,  424,  466, 
467. 

Ingersoll,  Ralph  I.,  461. 

Ingham,  of  Pa.,  530. 

Intermarriage,  petitions  to  Massachusetts 
legislature  for  repeal  of  law  against, 
489.  Law  against,  repealed,  492. 

Isaac,  a  negro,  claimed  as  slave,  474. 

J. 

Jackson,  General  Andrew,  President,  his 
act  of  outrage  on  Seminoles,  132. 
His  message  on  closing  mails  against 
antislavery  publications,  324,  339. 
His  action  on  occasion  of  freeing  of 
slaves  by  British  government  at  Nas 
sau,  440.  His  efforts  to  purchase 
Texas,  589.  Urges  annexation  of 
Texas,  592. 

Jackson,  of  Ga.,  58,  62. 

Jackson,  Francis,  of  Boston,  285,  559. 

Jackson,  William,  of  Mass.,  309,  420. 

Jarvis,  Leonard,  of  Me.,  312. 

Jay,  Judge  William,  his  antislavery  acts 


and  writings,  267,  268,  420,  566.    His 

reply  to  President  Jackson,  271,  272. 
Jay,  John,  Commissioner  to  Paris,  113. 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  branded  traffic  in  men 

as  an  "execrable  commerce,"  etc.,  15. 

Presents  deed   of   lands  claimed   by 

Virginia,    32.      His    action    on    the 

Louisiana  boundary  question,  588. 
Jessup,  General,  commands  in  Florida 

war,  517,  520,  526,  538. 
Jocelyn,  Rev.  S.  S.,  239,  250,  458. 
Johnson,  Andrew,  of  Tenn.,  612. 
Johnson,  Cave,  of  Tenn.,  584. 
Johnson,  Mr.  Justice,    declares  laws  of 

South  Carolina  unconstitutional  and 

void,  577. 

Johnson,  Oliver,  225,  409,  414. 
Johnson,  of  La.,  opposition  of,  to  Hay- 

tien  independence,  117. 
Johnson,  R.  M.,  of  Ky.,  143. 
Johnson,  William  Cost,  of  Md.,  425. 
Johnston,  of  N.  C.,  89. 
Jones,  of  Va.,  73. 
Judson,  Andrew  T.,  241. 
Judson,  Judge,  of  Conn.,  458. 

K. 

Keith,  George,  Quaker,  8. 

Kelley,  Miss  Abby,  of  Mass.,  296,  411, 
419,  569. 

Kendall,  Amos,  of  Ky.,  323. 

Kentucky,  carved  out  of  territory  claimed 
by  Virginia,  34. 

Kitchell,  of  N.  J.,  72. 

Kidnapping,  of  free  negroes  under  Fugi 
tive  Slave  Act,  70.  Protection  against 
it  asked  by  legislature  of  Delaware, 
70.  Free  negroes  taken  from  ships, 
70.  Exciting  debate,  70,  71.  Report 
of  committee,  71. 

King,  Charles,  of  N.  Y.,  321. 

King,  Daniel  P.,  of  Mass.,  490. 

King,  of  Ga.,  340,  341. 

King,  Rufus,  of  N.  Y.,  32,  47,  51,  104, 
105,  143. 

King,  William  R.,  of  Ala.,  444,  445,  484. 

Knapp,  Chauncey  L.,  of  Vt.,  291. 

Knapp,  Isaac,  184. 

Knox,  General,  126. 


INDEX. 


661 


Lambert,  colored  soldier,  19. 

Lane  Seminary,  antislavery  debate  in, 
264. 

Langdon,  of  N.  H.,  51. 

Latimer,  George,  a  fugitive,  seized  in 
Boston,  and  proceedings  in  his  case, 
477-480. 

Laurens,  Colonel  John,  of  S.  C.,  sought 
to  fill  ranks  with  emancipated  slaves, 
20. 

Laurens,  Henry,  of  S.  C.,  one  of  com 
mission  to  Paris,  113. 

Lawler,  Joab,  of  Ala.,  346. 

Lawless,  Judge,  376. 

Lawrence,  Abbott,  of  Mass.,  638,  646. 

Lawrence,  of  N.  Y.,  65. 

Lay,  Benjamin,  9. 

Leavitt,  Rev.  Joshua,  231,  232,  234,  260, 
420,  428,  458,  466,  479,  545. 

Ledyard,  Colonel,  killed,  and  his  death 
avenged  by  Lambert,  19. 

Lee,  Benjamin  Watkins,  of  Va.,  318. 

Lee,  Henry,  of  Va.,  73. 

Legare,  Hugh  S.,  of  S.  C.,  451,  592. 

Legislation,  Northern,  demanded,  339  - 
343. 

Lewis,  Dixon  H.,  of  Ala.,  346,  342. 

Lewis,  slave  of  Antonio  Pacheco,  guide 
to  Major  Dade  in  Florida,  516,  543. 

Liberty  party,  its  formation  and  candi 
dates,  549  —  555.  National  convention 
of,  552.  Acts  against  Texas  annexa 
tion,  605. 

Lincoln,  William,  of  Mass.,  489. 

Linder,  W.  F.,  of  111.,  379. 

Linn,  Lewis  F.,  of  Mo.,  340. 

Livermore,  Arthur,  of  N.  H.,  76,  137. 

Livermore,  Isaac,  of  Mass.,  497. 

Livingston,  of  La.,  529. 

Livingston,  of  N.  Y.,  82. 

Loring,  Ellis  Gray,  of  Mass.,  285,  331, 
357,  371,  414,  569,  571,  644. 

Loring,  Mrs.  Ellis  Gray,  of  Boston, 
561. 

Louisiana,  acquisition  of,  135.  Pur 
chase,  how  divided,  136.  Imprisons 
free  colored  seamen,  577.  Boundaries 
denned,  588. 


Lovejoy,  Rev.  Elijah  P.,  362,  374,  377, 
378,  381,  382. 

Lowndes,  William,  157. 

Lowrie,  Walter,  of  Pa.,  106,  141. 

Lucas,  of  Mass.,  330,  331. 

Lumpkin,  of  Ga.,  392,  397. 

Lundy,  Benjamin,  his  origin  and  early 
labors,  167.  Mr.  Garrison's  tribute 
to  him,  167,  168.  His  paper,  first 
public  lecture,  and  formation  of  so 
cieties,  169.  His  appeal  to  Mr.  Garri 
son,  172.  Removes  paper  to  Wash 
ington,  174.  Starts  "National  In 
quirer,"  174.  His  death,  174.  Char 
acter  and  services,  174,  175. 

Lunt,  George,  of  Mass.,  330,  332. 

M. 

Macon,  Nathaniel,  of  N.  C.,  81,  116. 

Madison,  declaration  of,  that  slavery 
formed  line  of  discrimination  between 
States,  41 .  His  plan  of  slave  represen 
tation,  43.  On  taxation  of  slaves  im 
ported,  59. 

Magrath,  of  S.  C.,  58. 

Maine,  bill  for  admission  of,  and  con 
ference  committee,  147. 

Mallory,  of  Vt,  157. 

Mangum,  Willie  P.,  of  N.  C.,  340. 

Mann,  Abijah,  of  N.  Y.,  348. 

Mann,  Dr.  Daniel,  of  Mass.,  493. 

Mann,  Horace,  remarks  on  slave-traffic,  3. 

Marcy,  of  Mass.,  491. 

Marcy,  Governor  William  L.,  of  N.  Y., 
326. 

Marshall,  of  Va.,  201. 

Marshall,  Thomas  F.,  of  Ky.,  425,  428. 

Martin,  Luther,  of  Maryland,  48. 

Martineau,  Harriet,  285. 

Maryland,  prohibited  introduction  of 
slaves,  33. 

Mason,  John  Y.,  of  Va.,  309. 

Mason,  Jonathan,  of  Mass.,  76. 

Massachusetts,  adopted  measures  in 
1771  for  abolition  of  slave-trade,  4. 
Enacted  "Body  of  Liberties,"  for 
bidding  slavery,  5.  Affixed  death 
penalty  to  man-stealing,  6.  Adopted 
constitution,  20.  Declaration  in  Bill 


662 


INDEX. 


of  Rights,  20.  Bill  to  extirpate  slav 
ery,  20.  Letter  to  Continental  Con 
gress  urging  freedom,  21.  Clause  in 
Bill  of  Rights  and  Supreme  Court 
decision  on,  21.  Became  a  free  State, 
22.  Hearing  of  Abolitionists  before 
her  legislature,  331.  Resolutions  of 
legislature  on  slavery  in  the  District, 

370.  Hall  of  Representatives  gran  ted  to 
Massachusetts    Antislavery     Society, 

371.  Proposes  amendment  to  Consti 
tution,  basing  representation  on  free 
persons,  482.    Action  of,  concerning 
intermarriage,  caste,  etc.,    488-492. 
Act  of  legislature  concerning  colored 
seamen  in  Southern  ports,  578.     Her 
declaration  concerning  the  treatment 
of  Mr.  Hoar  by  South  Carolina,  585. 
Her  position  among  the  States,  621. 
State  convention  of,  on  Texas  ques 
tion,  623.      Public  meetings   against 
Texas  annexation,  639. 

Massacre,  Boston,  18. 

Matthews,  General,  128. 

May,  Rev.  Samuel  J.,  241,  250,  260, 291, 
330,  331,  334,  357,  358,  577,  639. 

McCrummell,  James,  of  Philadelphia, 
251. 

McDowell,  James,  of  Va.,  great  speech 
of,  205,  206. 

McDuffie,  Governor,  of  S.  C.,  324,  610. 

McKay,  James  J.,  of  N.  C.,  352. 

McKim,  J.  Miller,  250. 

McKrum,  John,  of  111.,  380. 

McLane,  Louis,  of  Del.,  140,  145,  157. 

McLean,  Justice,  476. 

Memorial  of  abolition  societies,  67.  Of 
legislature  of  Delaware,  70.  Of  Con 
vention  of  Abolition  Societies,  of  Quak 
ers  at  Yearly  Meeting,  and  of  the  Provi 
dence  society  for  abolition  of  slave- 
trade,  80.  Of  Quakers  in  behalf  of 
slaves  made  free  and  enslaved  again, 
80.  From  North  and  South  Carolina, 
setting  forth  dangers  of  immigration 
of  blacks  from  San  Domingo,  85.  Of 
Friends  to  Congress  for  suppression  of 
domestic  slave-trade,  103.  To  restrain 
increase  of  slavery  in  new  States,  drawn 
up  by  Daniel  Webster,  150. 


Mercer,  Charles  F.,  of  Va.,  105, 106, 211. 

Merrill,  Amos  B.,  of  Boston,  477. 

Meriwether,   Mr.,  of  Ga.,  431. 

Mexico,  her  President  abolishes  slavery, 
589. 

Michigan,  applies  for  enabling  act,  343. 

Mid,  slave  child  brought  to  Massachu 
setts  and  freed  by  Supreme  Court,  370. 

Middleton,  102,  105. 

Miller,  Colonel,  of  Vt.,  292. 

Miller,  of  N.  J.,  616. 

Miner,  of  Pa.,  303,  531. 

Missouri,  petition  of,  and  debate  on  ques 
tion  of  slavery  in,  136.  Bill  prohibit 
ing  slavery  in,  lost  in  Senate,  139.  Bill 
in  House  to  exclude  slavery  from, 
passed  after  a  protracted  and  fierce 
debate,  147.  House  bill  taken  up  in 
Senate  and  prohibition  clause  stricken 
out,  147.  Compromise  bill  debated 
and  passed  both  Houses,  148.  Consti 
tution  of,  subjected  to  searching  and 
extended  debate,  modified  by  joint 
committee,  adopted  by  both  Houses, 
and  debate  of  two  years  closed,  1 53  - 
160.  Comments  on  the  great  contro 
versy,  161. 

Mob,  attacks  house  of  Lewis  Tappan, 
267.  Destroys  Mr.  Birney's  press  in 
Cincinnati,  278.  Outrages  of,  in  New 
York,  279.  Assaults  Rev.  Orange 
Scott  and  Rev.  George  Storrs,  280. 
Breaks  up  meeting  of  ladies  in  Bos 
ton,  284.  Seizes  and  drags  Mr.  Gar 
rison  through  the  streets  of  Boston, 
284.  Brutal  violence  in  Utica,  289. 
Outrages  of,  at  Montpelier,  291.  Meet 
ings  of  H.  B.  Stanton  broken  up,  293. 
Burning  of  Pennsylvania  Hall,  297. 
Forces  open  and  robs  post-office  at 
Charleston,  322.  Hangs  Mclntosh,  a 
mulatto,  and  enters  and  destroys  office 
of  Lovejoy,  in  St.  Louis,  376.  Twice 
seizes  and  destroys  his  press  at  Alton, 
Illinois,  376,  377.  His  murder,  381. 
Riot  and  destruction  of  property  in 
Cincinnati,  556.  Assails  negroes  and 
burns  buildings  in  Philadelphia,  557. 
Breaks  up  antislavery  meetings  in 
New  Bedford  and  Nantucket,  558.  As- 


INDEX. 


663 


sails  Stephen  S.  Foster  in  Portland, 
558. 

Monroe,  President,  announces  policy  of 
United  States,  115.  Signs  bill,  forever 
prohibiting  slavery  north  of  the  paral 
lel  of  36°  30',  149.  Opposes  the  Mis 
souri  restriction,  149. 

Moore,  of  Va.,  195. 

Morgan,  Margarette,  of  Md.,  an  escaping 
slave,  471. 

Morpeth,  Lord,  of  England,  attends  anti- 
slavery  fair  in  Boston,  562. 

Morrill,  of  N.  H.,  104. 

Morris,  Gouverneur,  47,  48. 

Morris,  Thomas,  of  Ohio,  294,  314,  320, 
343,  392,  397,  420,  476,  553. 

Morsell,  Judge,  District  of  Columbia, 
charge  of,  101,  302. 

Moseley,  of  Mass  ,  331,  337. 

Mott,  Mrs.  Lucretia,  255,  562. 

N. 

Napoleon,  failure  of,  to  subdue  Hay- 
tiens,  114.  Demands  of  United  States 
to  cease  trading  with  Hayti,  1 14. 

Negroes,  free,  laws  to  prevent  their  en 
tering  new  State  of  Missouri,  153. 
Presumed  to  be  slaves  in  the  District 
of  Columbia,  301.  Testimony  of,  not 
allowed,  301 .  In  Ohio,  and  laws  con 
cerning  them,  363.  Driven  by  mob 
violence  from  Cincinnati,  365.  Seek 
refuge  in  Canada,  365.  Ejected  from 
cars,  493.  Stolen  from  Florida,  and 
sold,  515.  Forbidden  to  enter  South 
Carolina,  576.  Seized  from  vessels  in 
Southern  ports  and  imprisoned,  576  - 
578.  England  protests  against  their 
imprisonment,  577.  Conflict  concern 
ing,  576  -  586. 

Nelson,  of  Va.,  threatening  remarks  of, 
139. 

New  Hampshire,  became  free  State  in 
1784,  22.  Her  fight  against  Texas 
annexation,  626  -  628. 

New  Haven  Colony  enacted  death  pen 
alty  for  man-stealing  in  1650,  6.  Anti- 
slavery  Society  of,  one  of  the  oldest,  25. 
Leader  of  antislavery  movements,  25. 


New  Jersey,  land  bounty  offered  for  every 
slave  introduced  there,  5.  Abolition 
Society  of,  and  its  influence,  27. 

New  Orleans  expels  agent  of  Massachu 
setts,  583. 

New  York,  Abolition  Society  of,  26. 
Act  of  legislature  concerning  fugitive 
slaves,  474. 

Nicholas,  of  Va.,  84. 

Nisbet,  E.  A.,  of  Ga.,  427. 

Niles,  John  M.,  of  Conn.,  393. 

Norris,  Moses,  of  N.  H.,  612. 

North  Carolina,  settled  by  colonies  from 
Virginia,  4.  Take  slaves  with  them,  4. 

Norvell,  John,  of  Mich.,  391. 

Noyes  Academy,  in  N.  H.,  opened  for 
colored  students,  239.  Opposition,  and 
building  removed  by  force,  240. 

0. 

Ogden,  David  B.,  235. 

Oglethorpe,  James,  founding  colonies  in 
Georgia  and  forbidding  slavery,  4,  14. 

Ohio,  black  laws  of,  exhibit  the  barba 
rism  of  slavery,  365. 

Ordinance  of  1787,  33. 

Osceola,  Seminole  chief,  576. 

Osborn,  Charles,  publishes  "  Philanthro 
pist,"  168. 

Otis,  Harrison  Gray,  of  Mass.,  36,  142, 
156,  280. 


P. 

Palfrey,  John  G.,  of  Mass.,  645. 

Palmerston,  Lord,  597. 

Panama,  Congress  of,  115. 

Park,  John  C.,  of  Mass.,  491. 

Parker,  Isaac,  of  Mass.,  82. 

Parker,  Josiah,  of  Va.,  57,  65. 

Parliament  seeks  co-operation  with  Unit 
ed  States  to  suppress  slave-trade,  108. 

Parmenter,  William,  of  Mass.,  546. 

Parsons,  Theophilus,  of  Mass.,  490. 

Patterson,  William,  of  N.  J.,  43. 

Patton,  John  M.,  of  Va.,  310,  347. 

Paulding,  his  description  of  a  slave- 
gang,  99. 

Pennington,  Governor,  of  N.  J.,  400. 


664 


INDEX. 


Pennsylvania,  act  of  legislature  in  1712 
to  prevent  increase  of  slaves,  3.  Act 
annulled  by  British  crown,  4.  In 
1780  passed  act  of  gradual  abolition, 
22.  Abolition  Society  of,  resuscitated, 
22.  Oldest  Abolition  society  in  the 
world,  22.  Petitioned  legislature  for 
law  to  prevent  slave-trade,  24.  Abo 
lition  Society  of,  memorializes  Con 
gress  in  1790,  62.  Her  law  against 
kidnapping,  471. 

Petition,  right  of,  denied  in  the  XXIId 
and  XXIIId  Congresses,  307-309. 
Petitions  presented,  discussed,  and  re 
jected  in  the  XXIVth,  309  -  320.  Fi 
nally  vindicated,  432. 

Phelps,  Eev.  Amos  A.,  236,  251,  261, 
388,  411,  414,  415,  419. 

Phelps,  Charles  A.,  498. 

Philip,  King,  Indian  chief,  521. 

Phillips,  Jonathan,  of  Boston,  384. 

Phillips,  Stephen  C.,  of  Mass.,  495,  623, 
643. 

Phillips,  Wendell,  of  Boston,  372,  385, 
386,  479,  494,  569,  574,  639,  644. 

Pickens,  of  S.  C.,  312,  533. 

Pierce,  Franklin,  of  N.  H.,  311,  393,  625, 
626. 

Pillsbury,  Parker,  566. 

Pinckney,  Charles,  of  S.C.,  45,  51,  159. 

Pinckney,  Thomas,  of  S.  C.,  313. 

Pinkney,  William,  of  Md.,  143. 

Pindall,  James,  of  Va.,  74,  105. 

Plummer,  William,  of  N.  H.,  146. 

Poinsett,  of  S.  C.,  106,  542. 

Political  action,  debate  and  division  on, 
407  -  410.  Early  Abolitionists  pledged 
to  it,  545.  Party  demanded,  546. 

Polk,  James  K.,  of  Tenn.,  351,  400. 
Nominated  for  President,  604. 

Porter,  A.  S.,  of  Mich.,  442. 

Portuguese  and  Spanish,  introduced 
slaves  into  Europe  half  a  century  be 
fore  discovery  of  America,  2. 

Powell,  of  Va.,  199. 

Press,  Southern,  demands  Northern  legis 
lation,  325. 

Preston,  William  B.,  of  Va.,  202. 

Preston,  William  C.,  of  S.  C.,  393,  444. 

Prentiss,  Samuel,  of  Vt.,  397. 


Prigg,  Edward,  case  of,  471. 
Property  in  slaves,  question  of,  struggle 
on,  528-544. 


Q. 

Quakers,  their  protest  against  slavery, 
8.  Of  New  England,  message  to  breth 
ren  in  Rhode  Island,  9.  Of  Nantucket, 
their  declaration  and  appeal,  9.  Peti 
tion  of,  to  first  Congress,  and  debate, 
61,  62.  Petition  of  Mifflin,  a  Dela 
ware  Quaker,  denounced  and  returned 
to  petitioner,  67.  Memorial  of,  in  be 
half  of  the  re-enslaved,  80.  Of  Vir 
ginia,  petition  for  removal  of  slavery, 
192. 

Queen  Anne,  her  stock  in  Koyal  African 
Company,  and  instructions  to  gover 
nors,  4.  Orders  constant  supply  of  ne 
groes  for  New  Jersey,  5. 

Quincy,  Edmund,  of  Mass.,  371,  388, 
405,  644. 

Quincy,  Josiah,  speech  of,  on  the  slave- 
trade,  92. 


R. 


Randolph,  John,  of  Va.,  33,  86,  97,  118, 

146,  302,  529. 
Randolph,  Thomas  J.,  of  Va.,  denounces 

domestic  slave-trade,  100.  His  plan  for 

extinction  of  slavery  in  Virginia,  194. 

Takes   strong  antislavery  ground  in 

Virginia  legislature,  196. 
Rankin,  John,  166,  178. 
Rantoul,  Robert,  Jr.,  of  Mass.,  338. 
Rathbun,  George,  of  N.  Y.,  612. 
Rayner,  Kenneth,  of  N.  C.,  425,  426, 456, 

619. 

Read,  George,  of  Del.,  69. 
Reid,  Robert  R.,  of  Ga.,  145. 
Remond,  Charles  L ,  of  Mass.,  493,  494, 

569. 

Rencher,  Abraham,  of  N.  C.,  352. 
Representation,   plan    of,    discussed    in 

Congress,  42.     Proposition  of  Frank 
lin,  42.     Of  slaves,  43. 
-Republic  of  United  States,  how   com* 

menced,  18. 


INDEX. 


665 


Revolution,  French,  consequences  of,  to 
blacks  of  San  Domingo,  113. 

Rhett,  R.  B.,  of  S.  C.,  352,  612. 

Rhode  Island,  act  for  suppression  of  in 
voluntary  servitude  in  1652,  6.  Passed 

.  law  in  1774  against  importation  of 
negroes  into  the  State,  12.  Abolition 
Society  of,  formed,  26. 

Rich,  Charles,  of  Vt.,  75. 

Richardson,  of  Mass.,  486. 

"  Richmond  Inquirer,"  its  portrayal  of 
the  perils  of  slavery,  206. 

Ritner,  Governor,  of  Pa.,  325,  327. 

Rives,  William  C.,  of  Va.,  193. 

Roane,  of  Va.,  201. 

Roberts,  Jonathan,  of  Pa.,  103,  141. 

Robertson,  George,  of  Ky.,  139. 

Robinson,  John  P.,  of  Mass.,  492. 

Rochester,  of  N.  Y.,  Secretary  to  Pana 
ma  Congress,  115. 

Rockwell,  Julius,  of  Mass.,  647. 

Rodney,  Cesar,  of  Del.,  33. 

Root,  Rev.  Mr.,  of  N.  H.,  358,  418. 

Ross,  John,  Cherokee,  521,  524. 

Ruggles,  Benjamin,  of  Ohio,  plea  of,  for 
prohibition  of  slavery  in  Missouri,  142. 

Ruggles,  David,  of  Mass.,  colored,  ex 
cluded  from  cars,  492. 

Rush,  Dr.  Benjamin,  his  "  Address  "  in 
1773, 12.  Author  of  address  of  Con 
vention  of  Abolition  Societies  to  citi 
zens  of  United  States  in  1794,  80.  In 
structed  to  make  slave-trade  piracy, 
108. 

Rutherford,  of  Va.,  72. 

Rutledge,  John,  of  S.  C.,  46,  49,  72,  81. 


S. 


Saltonstall,  Leverett,  of  Mass.,  486. 

Saniford,  Ralph,  his  "  Mystery  of  Ini 
quity,"  9. 

San  Jacinto,  battle  of,  590. 

Santa  Anna,  President  Mexican  Repub 
lic,  taken  prisoner,  590. 

Scott,  General,  superseded,  517. 

Scott,  John,  of  Mo.,  138. 

Scott,  of  Pa.,  64. 

Scott,  Rev.  Orange,  280,  357,  415. 

Seamen,  free  colored,  their  seizure  and 
84 


imprisonment  in  Southern  ports,  576  - 
580. 

Sedgwick,  Theodore,  Jr.,  458. 

Seminoles,  treaty  with,  at  Camp  Moul- 
trie,  133.  Driven  from  homes  and 
property,  133.  Slaves  and  free  negroes 
among  them  seized  by  Georgia  planters, 
515,  516. 

Sergeant,  John,  of  Pa.,  urges  prohibition 
of  slavery  in  Missouri,  144.  Speech  of, 
against  constitution  of  Missouri  with 
slavery  clause,  156. 

Sewall,  Justice  Samuel,  7. 

Sewall,  Samuel  E.,  223,  335,  477,  577. 

Seward,  W.  H.,  of  N.  Y.,  408.  His  de 
cision  concerning  fugitive  slaves,  475, 
545. 

Shaw,  Chief  Justice,  371. 

Sherman,  Roger,  of  Conn.,  48,  57,  69. 

Sinnickson,  Thomas,  of  N.  J.,  65. 

Sitgreaves,  Samuel,  of  Pa.,  83. 

Slave  Power.  Origin  of,  2.  Rapid 
growth  and  increasing  influence  of, 
30,38.  Signal  victory  of,  53  -  56.  Hu 
miliating  attitude  of  nation  by,  112- 
122.  Its  means  of  control,  152.  De 
mands  Northern  legislation,  339  -  343. 
Subserviency  of  Mr.  Van  Buren's  ad 
ministration  to,  590. 

Slaves,  African,  introduced  in  to  Europe,  2. 
Brought  into  the  thirteen  colonies  un 
der  British  legislation,  3.  Two  brought 
into  Massachusetts  Colony  from  Africa, 
6.  Action  of  General  Court  thereon, 
6.  Question  of  counting  and  taxing 
them,  15.  Number  of,  in  United  States 
when  independence  declared,  18. 
Emancipated  on  condition  of  entering 
army,  20.  Introduction  of,  prohibited 
by  Maryland  and  Virginia,  22.  Debate 
on  importation  of,  49.  Number  of,  at 
declaration  of  war,  118.  Absconding, 
demanded  of  British  squadron  and  re 
fused,  120.  Question  of  surrender  of 
fugitives  referred  to  Emperor  of  Russia, 
121.  Landed  in  Nassau  from  wrecked 
slavers  and  made  free  by  British  gov 
ernment,  441 .  Of  brig  "  Creole  "  seized 
vessel  and  ran  into  Nassau,  443.  Mr. 
Giddings's  resolutions,  447-449.  Of 


666 


INDEX. 


the  "Amistad,"  proceedings  in  their 
case,  457  -469.  Surrender  of  by  the 
Seminoles  demanded,  512.  Question 
of  property  in,  debated,  528  -  544. 

Slave  representation,  debate  on,  43. 
Plantation  whip  employed  by  South 
ern  members,  44.  Proposition  of  Ran 
dolph  to  count  slaves  as  three  fifths,  45. 
His  proposition  carried,  45.  Vote  of 
the  States  on,  45.  Influence  and  re 
sults  of  the  measure,  45. 

Slavery,  its  source,  1.  American,  to 
what  it  reduced  man,  1.  Antagonistic 
to  reason  and  conscience,  2.  Its  friends 
dictated  policy  of  England  from  1620 
to  Revolution,  3.  Planted  in  America 
by  British  avarice,  4.  Increase  at 
South  before  Revolution,  5.  Its  oppos- 
ers  in  England  and  America,  5.  De 
nounced  by  popular  leaders  of  New 
England,  Middle  Colonies,  and  Vir 
ginia,  13.  Believed  by  leaders  of  Rev 
olution  to  be  inconsistent  with  doctrines 
they  were  proclaiming,  17.  Statesmen 
expected  it  would  pass  away,  17. 
Fostered  by  England  and  by  individ 
ual  indolence  and  pride  for  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years,  17.  Incorporated  into 
social  life  of  the  people,  17.  Excluded 
from  Vermont,  20.  Massachusetts 
sought  to  extirpate  it,  20.  Bill  in  legis 
lature  forbidding  it,  21.  Excluded 
from  territory  ceded  by  Virginia  in 
deed  drawn  by  Jefferson,  32.  Exclud 
ed  from  territory  northwest  of  Ohio, 
33.  Power  of  Congress  to  prohibit  it 
in  Territories  conceded  by  statesmen  of 
South  as  well  as  North,  38.  Incorpor 
ation  of  concessions  to,  into  fundamen 
tal  law,  gave  new  life  to  system,  55. 
Memorials  against,  presented  to  first 
Congress,  60.  Its  early  extinction  ex 
pected  by  authors  of  compromises  of 
Constitution,  86.  Mischievous  influ 
ences  of,  112.  Prohibition  of,  in  Mis 
souri  and  Arkansas  debated,  137  -141. 
Bill  for  restriction  of  slavery  in  Mis 
souri,  supported  by  Morrill  of  N.  H., 
Mellen  of  Mass.1,  and  Burrill  of  R.  I., 
and  opposed  by  Walker  of  Ga.,  Ma- 


con  of  N.  C.,  and  Pinckney  of  Md., 

142.  Bill  for  prohibition  of,  defeated, 

143.  Excluded  from  territory  north  of 
36°  30',  148.  Power  of  Congress  to  pro 
hibit  it  in  new  States  affirmed  by  many 
legislatures,  151.  Extended  debate  on, 
in     Virginia    legislature,    192-207. 
Power  of  Congress  to  abolish  it  in  the 
District  admitted  by  Calhoun,  391. 

Slave-trade,  African,  early  introduced  in 
to  the  colonies,  2.  Their  efforts  to 
check  °t  defeated  by  British  legislation, 
3.  "V  irginia  attempted  to  check  it  by 
tax  in  1726,  3.  Efforts  of  Pennsylva 
nia  to  prevent  it,  3.  Abolition  of, 
sought  by  Massachusetts  in  1771  and 
1774,  4.  Death  penalty  passed  on  it 
by  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island, 
6.  People  in  favor  of  putting  an  end 
to  it  at  time  of  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence,  16.  Leaders  of  Revolution 
opposed  it,  17.  Permitted  till  1808, 
51.  Strictures  on  the  twenty  years' 
extension  of,  52.  Gathered  fresh  life 
from  compromises  of  Constitution, 
79.  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  open 
to  fresh  cargoes  from  Africa,  79.  Con 
gress  memorialized  by  Convention  of 
Abolition  Societies  in  1794  to  prevent 
it,  80.  South  Carolina,  in  1803,  re 
pealed  law  prohibiting  importation  of 
slaves,  86.  Mr.  Jefferson's  reference, 
in  message,  to  time  fixed  for  prohibi 
tion  of,  89.  Referred  to  committee, 
90.  Bill  in  Senate  to  prevent  importa 
tion  of,  90.  Extended  debate  on  bills 
relating  to,  90-96.  Extent  of,  and 
how  stimulated,  97.  Increase  of  both 
foreign  and  domestic,  98.  Prosecuted 
with  fresh  vigor  after  peace  of  1815, 
98.  Demoralization  produced  by,  100, 
101.  Insincerity  and  inconsistency  of 
this  government  concerning,  109-111. 
Debate  on  Quintuple  Treaty  for  sup 
pression  of,  402. 

Slave-trade,  domestic,  seat  and  head 
quarters  of,  98.  Denounced  by  John 
Randolph,  99,  101.  Arguments  and 
measures  for  abolition  of,  102-104. 
President  calls  attention  to  it,  106. 


INDEX. 


667 


Report  on,  by  Eandolph,  302.  Termed 
"  brutal  commerce  "  by  Judge  Morsell, 
302.  Resolutions  concerning  it  in  the 
District,  303.  Presented  to  Congress 
by  grand  jury  as  "  disgusting  traffic," 
304.  Whipping  of  slaves  in  District 
authorized  by  Congress,  304.  Petitions 
for  abolition  of,  in  District,  307.  Peti 
tions  and  discussions  on,  307  -  320. 
Interference  with,  through  press  and 
speech,  enrages  South,  324-338.  Right 
of  petition  for  abolition  of,  denied,  353. 
Debate  on,  in  Congress,  390-394. 
Illustrated  by  scene  in  Washington, 
395.  Congress  petitioned  to  suppress 
all  agitation  concerning  it  in  the  Dis 
trict,  396.  Petitions  for  its  abolition, 
397.  Gag  law  repealed,  432.  Coast 
wise  slavers  wrecked  and  slaves  made 
free  by  British  power,  439.  Slaves  of 
the  "  Hermosa,"  442. 

Slade,  William,  of  Vt.,  312, 350, 396, 398. 

Slater,  Mrs.,  of  New  Orleans,  370. 

Smith,  Gerrit,  of  N.  Y.,  289,  408,  545, 
573. 

Smith,  Oliver  H.,  of  la.,  442. 

Smith,  of  N.  J.,  70. 

Smith,  William,  of  S.  C.,  64, 66,  70,  106, 
142,  155. 

Smythe,  General,  of  Va.,  145. 

South  Carolina,  though  early  opposed, 
soon  encouraged  slave-trade,  14.  Del 
egation  of,  declared  their  State  not 
come  into  Union  if  slave-trade  prohib 
ited,  50.  Statesmen  of,  demanded 
slave  representation,  continuance  of 
slave-trade,  and  rendition  of  slaves,  as 
conditions  of  joining  Union,  53.  Re 
pealed  her  law  prohibiting  importation 
of  slaves,  86.  Passes  an  act  to  re 
strain  emancipation,  and  to  prevent 
free  persons  of  color  from  entering  the 
State,  576. 

Southard,  Samuel  L.,  of  N.  J.,  442. 

Southgate,  W.  W.,  of  Ky.,  476. 

Southwick,  Joseph,  of  Boston,  571,  572. 

Spaight,  Richard  D.,  of  N.  C.,  32. 

Spear,  John  M.,  of  Mass.,  492. 

Spencer,  Joshua  A.,  of  Utica,  N.  Y.,  288. 

Sprague,  Peleg,  281. 


Sprague,  Seth,  of  Mass.,  490,  494. 

St.  Clair,  Alanson,  295,  415. 

Stanton,  Henry  B.,  262,  264,  293,  357, 

366.      Brilliant  speech  of,  367  -  369, 

373,  407,  413,  420. 
Staples,  Seth  P.,  458. 
Starbuck,  Mrs.  Nathaniel,  Quaker 

preacher,  declaration  of,  9. 
Steele,  John,  of  N.  C.,  68. 
Stetson,  Rev.  Caleb,  of  Mass.,  640. 
Stevenson,  Andrew,  of  Va.,  440. 
Stewart,  Alvan,  of  N.  Y.,  295,  373  545, 

548,  550. 

Stiles,  Dr.  Ezra,  26. 
Storrs,  Rev.  Charles  B.,  251. 
Storrs,  Rev.  George,  mobbed,  280. 
Storrs,  Henry  R.,  of  N.  Y.,  75, 157. 
Story,  Judge,    101.     His    decision    in 

"  Amistad  "  case,  465  -  471. 
Sturgis,  William,  of  Boston,  386. 
Strong,  Hon.  Henry,  of  Conn.,  243. 
Strother,  of  Va.,  opposes  bounties  for 

crews  capturing  slave- vessels,  105. 
Stuart,  Alexander  H.,  of  Va.,  427,  537. 
Suffrage,  right  of,  a  source  of  contention, 

407. 

Sullivan,  William,  of  Mass.,  322. 
Summers,  George  W.,  of  Western  Va., 

203. 

Sumner,  Charles,  of  Mass.,  645. 
Sutherland,  Joel  B.,  of  Pa.,  310. 
Swanwick,  John,  of  Pa.,  71,  82. 
Swift,  Benjamin,  of  Vt.,  343. 

T. 

Tallmadge,  J.,  Jr.,  of  N.  Y.,  amendment 
of,  concerning  slavery  in  Missouri, 
136,  139. 

Taney,  Chief  Justice,  472. 

Tappan,  Arthur,  231  -  233,  243,  244, 
259,  260,  263,  419,  420. 

Tappan,  Lewis,  231  -  233,  249  -  251,  260, 
263,  266,  267,  289,  413,  414,  417,  420, 
458,  466,  597. 

Tax,  by  Virginia,  on  slaves  imported, 
early  repealed,  3.  Vote  in  Congress 
not  to  tax  slaves,  16.  On  imported 
slaves,  moved  by  Martin  of  Md.,  48. 
Of  ten  dollars,  proposed  by  Mr.  Par- 


668 


INDEX. 


ker  of  Va.  in  first  Congress,  57.  Pro 
posed  in  1804,  by  Mr.  Bard  of  Pa.,  86. 
Warm  debate  on  Bard's  bill,  85  -  88. 

Taylor,  General,  524,  541. 

Taylor,  John  W.,  of  N.  Y.,  106,  136, 
138,  139,  141. 

Taylor,  of  Va.,  69. 

Tennessee,  territory  of,  ceded  by  North 
Carolina,  34. 

Territory.  Measures  of  Congress  to  fix 
its  condition,  31 .  Portions  of  it  claimed 
by  several  States,  31.  Deed  of  cession 
excluding  slavery  presented  by  Jeffer 
son,  31 .  Freedom  clause  struck  out,  32. 
Bill  to  exclude  slavery  from,  northwest 
of  Ohio  River,  32.  Ordinance  passed 
July,  1787,  excluding  slavery  from 
territory  covered  by  five  Western 
States,  33.  Act  passed  prohibiting 
slavery  northwest  of  Ohio,  33.  Fail 
ure  of  efforts  to  repeal  act  prohibiting 
slavery  in  northwest,  34.  Great  bene 
fits  of  the  ordinance  of  1787,  34.  Of 
Tennessee,  ceded  by  North  Carolina 
on  condition  that  no  regulation  be 
made  tending  to  emancipation,  34. 
Power  of  Congress  to  prohibit  slavery 
in,  admitted  by  South  as  well  as  North, 
38.  Of  Arkansas  and  Michigan,  ap 
ply  for  enabling  act,  343. 

Texas,  a  portion  of,  ceded  to  Spain  by 
United  States,  588.  Attempt  to  re 
purchase,  589.  Independence  of,  pro 
claimed,  590.  Independence  recog 
nized  by  United  States,  590.  Annex 
ation  of,  proposed,  590.  Address  to 
the  people  against  annexation  of,  593. 
Emancipation  in,  sought  by  compen 
sation,  597.  Southern  cry  of  "  Texas 
or  Disunion,"  599.  Treaty  of  annexa 
tion,  600.  Treaty  of  annexation  de 
feated,  602.  Extended  debate  on  an 
nexation,  609-620.  Convention  in 
Massachusetts  to  resist  it,  642.  Anti- 
Texas  meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall,  645. 
Admitted  to  the  Union,  648.  Ad 
dress  to  the  public  by  Anti-Texas  Com 
mittee  of  Massachusetts,  649.  Causes 
of  this  victory  of  the  Slave  Power,  650. 

Thacher,  Ilev.  Moses,  225. 


Thatcher,  George,  of  Mass.,  36,  71,  82. 

Thayer,  Minot,  of  Mass.,  489. 

Thomas,  Francis,  of  Md.,  310. 

Thomas,  Jesse  B.,  of  111.,  143. 

Thomas,  Seth  J.,  of  Mass.,  491. 

Thome,  James  A.,  of  Ky.,  264. 

Thonfpson,  Indian  agent,  515. 

Thompson,  Justice,  of  N.  Y.,  460,  462. 

Thompson,  Waddy,  of  S.  C.,  347,  398, 
534. 

Thurston,  Rev.  David,  of  Me.,  250,  419. 

Torrey,  Charles  T.,  411,  415. 

Treaty  of  Peace,  signed  in  1782,  31. 
With  England,  for  suppression  of 
slave-trade,  109. 

Treaty,  Quintuple,  between  European 
powers  for  suppression  of  slave-trade, 
401.  Ashburton,  its  provisions  con 
cerning  slave-trade,  401. 

Trimble,  William  A.,  of  Ohio,  143. 

Troup,  of  Ga.,  ready  to  enforce  abolition 
of  African  slave-trade,  104. 

Tuck,  Amos,  of  N.  H.,  626,  628. 

Tucker,  Thomas  T.,  of  S.  C.,  63. 

Turner,  Nat,  insurrection,  trial,  and  exe 
cution  of,  190,  191. 

Twiggs,  General,  523. 

Tyler,  John,  of  Va.,  advocates  slavery 
in  Missouri,  145.  Becomes  President, 
423.  Ultra  slaveholder,  424.  Urges 
Texas  annexation,  609,  617. 

U. 

Underwood,  Joseph  R.,  of  Ky.,  350, 430. 
Union,  dissolution  of,  advocated,  568  -» 

575.    Protests    against  the  doctrine, 

571-574. 
Upshur,  A.  P.,  of  Va.,  592,  594,  597. 

V. 

Van  Buren,  Vice-President,  gives  cast 
ing  vote  for  Incendiary  Publication 
bill,  342.  His  connection  with  the 
slavers  "  Comet "  and  "  Encomium," 
and  the  "  Amistad  "  case,  468.  Rejects 
Texas  annexation,  590,  603. 

Van  Dyke,  Nicholas,  of  Del.,  142. 

Van  Zandt,  of  Ohio,  tried  and  punished 
for  assisting  fugitive  slaves,  475. 


INDEX. 


669 


Vance,  Governor,  of  Ohio,  542. 

Varnum,  Joseph  B.,  of  Mass.,  35,  72. 

Vermont  framed  constitution  excluding 
slavery,  20.  Legislature  of,  adopt 
resolutions  on  slavery  in  the  District, 
370. 

Virginia,  prohibits  introduction  of  slaves, 
22.  Kepeals  statute  forbidding  eman 
cipation,  22.  Her  plan  of  representa 
tion,  42.  Convention  of,  for  revision 
of  Constitution,  189.  Insurrection  in, 
190.  Great  debate  in  legislature  of, 
194-207.  Act  touching  fugitive 
slaves,  474. 


W. 

Wakefield,  Horace  P.,  of  Mass.,  252. 

Walker,  of  Ala.,  106. 

Walker,  Jonathan,  of  Mass.,  640. 

Walker,  of  N.  C.,  139. 

Walker,  Robert  J.,  of  Miss.,  316,  608. 

Wall,  Garrett  D.,  of  N.  J.,  392. 

Wain,  Eobert,  of  Pa.,  72. 

Walworth,  Chancellor,  235. 

Ward,  Aaron,  of  N.  Y.,  448. 

Washington,  his  letter  to  Lafayette, 
30. 

Washington,  Judge  Bushrod,  of  Va., 
first  president  of  Colonization  Society, 
212. 

Washington,  Madison,  a  slave,  seized 
brig  "  Creole  "  with  slaves,  443. 

Webster,  Daniel,  of  Mass.,  342, 445,  446, 
591,  592,  648. 

Weems,  John  C.,  of  Md.,  304. 

Weiss,  Rev.  John,  of  Mass.,  640. 

Weld,  Theodore  D.,  262,  264,  273,  275, 
293,  428. 

Weller,  John  B.,  of  Ohio,  449, 476. 

Wesley,  John,  his  characterization  of 
slavery  as  the  "  sum  of  all  villanies," 
11. 

Wetmore,  Rev.  Mr.,  of  Utica,  N.  Y., 
288. 

Whig  party,  defections  from,  622.  Di 
vergence  of  views  in,  concerning  slav 
ery,  637.  Development  of  proslavery 
sentiments  in,  646. 


White,  John,  of  Ky.,  449. 

White,  Hugh  L.,  of  Tenn.,  316. 

White,  William  A.,  of  Mass.,  571,  572, 
643,  644. 

Whitefield,  Rev.  George,  travelled  in 
Southern  States,  11.  His  "Letter" 
to  them  in  1739,  11. 

Whitman,  Ezekiel,  of  Mass.,  77. 

Whitmarsh,  Seth,  of  Mass.,  337. 

Whitridge,  Dr.,  of  S.  C.,  580. 

Whittier,  John  G.,  7,  236,  250,  260,  294, 
418,  643,  645. 

Whittlesey,  Elisha,  of  Ohio,  529. 

Wild  Cat,  Indian  chief,  521,  526. 

Williams,  of  Conn.,  77. 

Williams,  John  M.,  of  Mass.,  623. 

Williams,  of  N.  Y.,  Agent  of  American 
Antislavery  Society,  demanded  for  trial 
in  Alabama,  326. 

Wilson,  Henry,  of  Mass.,  485,  491,  496, 
622,  636,  637,  640,  641,  643,  645. 

Wilson,  James,  of  N.  H.,  543. 

Wilson,  J.  J.,  of  N.  J.,  154. 

Winslow,  Rev.  Hubbard,  387. 

Winthrop,  Robert  C.,  of  Mass.,  584,  613, 
638. 

Wii%  William,  pronounces  imprison 
ment  of  colored  seamen  unconstitu. 
tional,  577. 

Wise,  Henry  A.,  of  Va.,  309,  312,  344, 
350,  395,  398,  424-426,  428,  482. 

Wolcott,  Governor,  of  Conn.,  address  of, 
to  legislature  on  deplorable  effects  of 
slavery  extension,  152. 

Woman  question,  debate  and  action  on 
it,  410.  Protest  against  their  public 
speaking,  411.  Women  admitted  as 
delegates  by  American  Antislavery  So 
ciety,  414.  Many  delegates  retire  and 
form  Massachusetts  Abolition  Society, 
414.  Miss  Kelley  put  upon  committee 
by  American  Antislavery  Society, 
419. 

Wood,  of  Va.,  202. 

Woodbury,  Justice,  decision  in  Van 
Zandt  case,  477. 

Woods,  Leonard,  Jr.,  of  Mass.,  322. 

Woolman,  John,  travelled  South  in 
1746  to  1767,  proclaiming  liberty,  9. 

World's  Convention,  letter  of,  399. 


670 


INDEX. 


Wright,  Albert  J.,  of  Mass.,  498. 
Wright,    Elizur,  Jr.,  232,  250,  259,  407, 

412. 

Wright,  Henry  C.,  565,  569. 
Wright,  Robert,  of  Md.,  77. 
Wright,  Silas,  of  N.  Y.,  342,  604,  608. 


Y. 


Yancey,  William  L.,  of  Ala.,  611. 
Yates,  of  N.  Y.,  cast  the  only  vote  against 

bill  to  exclude  slavery  from  northwest 

territory,  33. 


END  OF  VOL.  I. 


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Wilson,  H. 

History  of  the  rise 
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